Editing Copán (section)

===Later rulers===
K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil was installed as the 14th dynastic ruler of Copán on 7&nbsp;June 738, 39&nbsp;days after the execution of Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil. Little is known of his reign due to the lack of monuments raised after Quiriguá's surprise victory. Copán's defeat had wider implications due to the fracturing of the city's domain and the loss of the key [[Motagua River]] [[Trade in Maya civilization|trade route]] to Quiriguá. The fall in Copán's income and corresponding increase at Quiriguá is evident from the massive commissioning of new monuments and architecture at the latter city, and Copán may even have been subject to its former vassal. K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil died in January&nbsp;749.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, pp. 206–207"/>

[[File:Copán Stela N.jpg|thumb|left|Stela N, depicting K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 208">{{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=208}}.</ref>]]
The next ruler was K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil, a son of K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil. The early period of his rulership fell within Copán's hiatus, but later on he began a programme of renewal in an effort to recover from the city's earlier disaster. He built a new version of Temple&nbsp;26, with the Hieroglyphic Stairway being reinstalled on the new stairway and doubled in length. Five life-size statues of seated rulers were installed seated upon the stairway. K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil died in the early 760s and is likely to have been interred in Temple&nbsp;11, although the tomb has not yet been excavated.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, pp. 207–208">{{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|pp=207–208}}.</ref>

Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat was the next ruler, 16th in the dynasty founded by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', although he appears not to have been a direct descendant of his predecessor. He took the throne in June&nbsp;763 and may have been only 9&nbsp;years old.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 209"/> He produced no monumental stelae and instead dedicated hieroglyphic texts incorporated into the city's architecture and smaller altars. Texts make an obscure reference to his father but his mother was a noblewoman from distant [[Palenque]] in Mexico. He built the platform of Temple&nbsp;11 over the tomb of the previous king in AD&nbsp;769 and added a two-storey superstructure that was finished in AD&nbsp;773.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 209"/> Around AD&nbsp;776, he completed the final version of Temple&nbsp;16 over the tomb of the founder. At the base of the temple, he placed the famous Altar&nbsp;Q, which shows each of the 16&nbsp;rulers of the city from K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' through to Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, with a hieroglyphic text on top describing the founding of the dynasty.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 210">{{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=210}}.</ref> By the latter 8th&nbsp;century, the nobility had become more powerful, raising palaces with hieroglyphic benches that were as richly constructed as those of the king. At the same time, local satellites were displaying their own local power, as demonstrated by the ruler of Los Higos erecting his own stela in AD&nbsp;781.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 210"/> Towards the end of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat's reign, the city of Copán was struggling with overpopulation and a lack of local resources, with a distinct fall in living standards among the populace.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 210"/> Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat was able to celebrate his second K'atun in AD&nbsp;802 with his own monument, but the king's participation in the K'atun ending ceremony of AD&nbsp;810 was marked at Quiriguá, not at Copán.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 210"/> By this time the city's population was over 20,000 and it had long needed to import basic necessities from outside.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 211">{{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=211}}.</ref>

The troubled times enveloping Copán at this time are evident from the funerary tomb of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, which bears sculptures of the king performing war dances with spear and shield in hand. The sculpted column from the temple shrine has a hieroglyphic text reading "toppling of the Foundation House" that may refer to the fall of the Copán dynasty.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 212">{{harvnb|Martin|Grube|2000|p=212}}.</ref> Shortage and disease afflicted the massively overpopulated valley of Copán when its last known king, Ukit&nbsp;Took', came to the throne on 6&nbsp;February 822. He commissioned Altar&nbsp;L in the style of Altar&nbsp;Q but the monument was never finished—one face shows the enthronement of the king and a second face was started but two others were completely blank. The long line of kings at the once great city had come to an end. Before the end, even the nobility had been struck by disease, perhaps because epidemics among the malnourished masses spread to the elite. With the end of political authority at the city the population collapsed to a fraction of what it had been at its height.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 212"/> This collapse of the city-state, which people believe occurred sometime between 800 and 830 AD, was sudden. However, the population continued to persist and even flourish between the years 750 and 900 AD, and then gradually declined soon thereafter.{{sfn|Snow|2010|p=168}}  In the Postclassic period the valley was occupied by villagers who stole the stone from the monumental architecture of the city in order to build their simple house platforms.<ref name="Martin & Grube 2000, p. 212"/>