Dos Pilas

Dos Pilas is a Maya site in the Petexbatún region of Petén, Guatemala, founded by an offshoot of the Tikal dynasty in 629 CE to control trade along the Pasión River. In 648 its ruler B'alaj Chan K'awiil, who claimed the Tikal throne, broke away and became a vassal of Calakmul; Tikal captured the city in 672, but Dos Pilas defeated Tikal in 679, conquered neighbouring cities and ruled with Aguateca as twin capitals of the Petexbatún kingdom. After Calakmul's defeat, Tamarindito and other centres rebelled, and in 761 the city was abandoned. Refugees threw up walls of stone stripped from its temples and palaces, but their village was overrun early in the 9th century.