Editing Tikal (section)

===Late Classic===

====Tikal hiatus====
[[File:Tikal-Plaza-And-North-Acropolis.jpg|thumb|right|350px|The main plaza during winter solstice celebrations]]
In the mid 6th century, Caracol seems to have allied with Calakmul and defeated Tikal, closing the Early Classic.<ref name=m89>Miller 1999, p.89.</ref> The "Tikal hiatus" refers to a period between the late 6th to late 7th century where there was a lapse in the writing of inscriptions and large-scale construction at Tikal. In the latter half of the 6th century AD, a serious crisis befell the city, with no new [[stelae]] being erected and with widespread deliberate mutilation of public sculpture.<ref name=c94/> This hiatus in activity at Tikal was long unexplained until later [[Epigraphy|epigraphic]] decipherments identified that the period was prompted by Tikal's comprehensive defeat at the hands of Calakmul and the Caracol polity in AD 562, a defeat that seems to have resulted in the capture and [[Human sacrifice|sacrifice]] of the king of Tikal.<ref name=w262>Webster 2002, p.262.</ref> The badly eroded [[Caracol#Altar21|Altar 21]] at Caracol described how Tikal suffered this disastrous defeat in a major war in April 562.<ref>Historical Dictionary of Mesoamerica by Walter Robert Thurmond Witschey and Clifford T. Brown, p. 313.</ref> It seems that Caracol was an ally of Calakmul in the wider conflict between that city and Tikal, with the defeat of Tikal having a lasting impact upon the city.<ref name=w192/> Tikal was not sacked but its power and influence were broken.<ref>Webster 2002, pp.192-3.</ref> After its great victory, Caracol grew rapidly and some of Tikal's population may have been forcibly relocated there. During the hiatus period, at least one ruler of Tikal took refuge with [[Janaabʼ Pakal]] of [[Palenque]], another of Calakmul's victims.<ref name=w193/> Calakmul itself thrived during Tikal's long hiatus period.<ref>Webster 2002, p.194.</ref>

The beginning of the Tikal hiatus has served as a marker by which [[archeologist|archaeologist]]s commonly subdivide the Classic period of [[Mesoamerican chronology]] into the Early and Late Classic.<ref>Miller and Taube 1993, p.20.</ref>

====Tikal and Dos Pilas====

In 629, Tikal founded [[Dos Pilas]], some {{convert|110|km|mi|sp=us}} to the southwest, as a military outpost in order to control trade along the course of the [[Pasión River]].<ref>Salisbury et al. 2002, p.1.</ref> [[Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil]] was installed on the throne of the new outpost at the age of four, in 635. When he was older, for many years he served as a loyal vassal fighting for his brother, the king of Tikal.<ref>Salisbury et al. 2002, pp.2-3.</ref> Roughly twenty years later, Dos Pilas was attacked by Calakmul and was soundly defeated. Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil was captured by the king of Calakmul but, instead of being sacrificed, he was re-instated on his throne as a vassal of his former enemy.<ref>Salisbury et al. 2002, p.2.</ref>

He attacked Tikal in 657, forcing [[Nuun Ujol Chaak]], then king of Tikal, to temporarily abandon the city. The first two rulers of Dos Pilas continued to use the Mutal emblem [[glyph]] of Tikal, and they probably felt that they had a legitimate claim to the throne of Tikal itself. For some reason, Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil was not installed as the new ruler of Tikal; instead he stayed at Dos Pilas. Tikal counterattacked against Dos Pilas in 672, driving Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil into an exile that lasted five years.<ref>Webster 2002, p.276.</ref> Calakmul tried to encircle Tikal within an area dominated by its allies, such as El Peru, Dos Pilas, and Caracol.<ref>Hammond 2000, p.220.</ref>

In 682, [[Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I]] erected the first dated monument at Tikal in 120 years and claimed the title of ''kaloomteʼ'', so ending the hiatus. He initiated a program of new construction and turned the tables on Calakmul when, in 695, he captured the enemy noble and threw the enemy state into a long decline from which it never fully recovered. After this, Calakmul never again erected a monument celebrating a military victory.<ref name=w193>Webster 2002, p.193.</ref>

====Tikal after Teotihuacan====
By the 7th century, there was no active Teotihuacan presence at any Maya site and the center of Teotihuacan had been razed by 700. Even after this, formal war attire illustrated on monuments was Teotihuacan style.<ref>Miller 1999, p.105.</ref> Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I and his heir Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil continued hostilities against Calakmul and its allies and imposed firm regional control over the area around Tikal, extending as far as the territory around Lake Petén Itzá. These two rulers were responsible for much of the impressive architecture visible today.<ref name=w263/>

In 738, Quiriguá, a vassal of Copán, Tikal's key ally in the south, switched allegiance to Calakmul, defeated Copán and gained its own independence.<ref name=af407/> It appears that this was a conscious effort on the part of Calakmul to bring about the collapse of Tikal's southern allies.<ref>Looper 2003, p.79.</ref> This upset the balance of power in the southern Maya area and lead to a steady decline in the fortunes of Copán.<ref>Wyllys Andrews & Fash 2005, p.408.</ref>

In the 8th century, the rulers of Tikal collected monuments from across the city and erected them in front of the North Acropolis.<ref name="Miller 1999, p.33">Miller 1999, p.33.</ref> By the late 8th century and early 9th century, activity at Tikal slowed. Impressive architecture was still built but few hieroglyphic inscriptions refer to later rulers.<ref name=w263>Webster 2002, p.263.</ref>