Into this stable setting came a new, unsettling force early in the seventh century A. D., when a royal lineage from Tikal arrived at Dos Pilas but soon thereafter fell under the sway of Calakmul. Recently recovered hieroglyphic evidence demonstrates that the first Dos Pilas ruler arrived early in the seventh century when he was only a child (Demarest and Fahsen 2003). Presumably guided by a regent, the young prince and his followers settled at Dos Pilas (Demarest and Fahsen 2003; Houston 1987b). The strategy for choosing Dos Pilas was the presence of water (the two springs for which the site is named) and the absence of any large local population that would have had to be confronted. It has been posited that the site was established by Tikal as a military base to reassert Tikal’s dominance of the Pasion River trade route and defend it from the expanding Calakmul alliance (Demarest 2004; Demarest and Fahsen 2003). Such a military function seems probable given that the earlier lack of a sizable local population had a reason: the soils in the area are either extremely thin over bedrock or waterlogged, in either case very difficult for productive cultivation (Dunning and Beach 2004). The newly arrived Tikal leaders rapidly constructed an impressive capital at Dos Pilas, retaining the Tikal Emblem Glyph because they were an outpost of the Tikal dynasty. A newly uncovered hieroglyphic stairway at Dos Pilas places this entrada at a. d. 632 (Demarest and Fahsen 2003). Monumental constructions were rapidly raised as the new ruling lineage consolidated its power base, increased its local prestige and influence, and supplanted Tamarindito as the regional capital. Unfortunately for Tikal’s strategic designs, in a. d. 652 Calakmul conquered Dos Pilas and turned the now vassal center into its ally and agent.
Because the site of Dos Pilas was ill suited for agriculture, it was never host to a sizable population prior to this period. In fact, settlement studies and associated phosphate fractionation analyses indicate that Dos Pilas may never have been the locus of any significant agricultural activity, even in the eighth century when its population numbered in the thousands (Dunning et al. 1997; Dunning and Beach 2004). To sustain their population in this marginal setting, the leaders of Dos Pilas, their elites, and even non-elites must have relied heavily on regional transport of foodstuffs and on tribute. In contrast, Tamarindito, Arroyo de Pie-dra, and the rural areas inventoried on Transects 1 and 2 had intensive and extensive agricultural systems that could have provided substantial surplus, perhaps partly rendered as tribute to Dos Pilas.
Turning to the epigraphic evidence, within a century the predatory Dos Pilas tribute state controlled an area of fifteen hundred square kilometers and controlled much of the Pasion River trade route from near Mexico to the head of navigation far to the south at Cancuen (Mathews n. d.; Mathews and Willey 1991; Demarest 1996, 1997; Martin and Grube 2000; Williams 2002; Demarest and Fahsen 2003; Demarest 2004). According to epigraphic evidence, this expansionism first occurred under the aegis of Calakmul (Martin and Grube 2000: 54— 67; Demarest and Fahsen 2003). Yet after the defeat of that powerful rival by Tikal in a. d. 695, the subsequent Dos Pilas rulers reasserted and expanded this hegemony.
The success of the rapid seventh - and eighth-century expansion of the Petexbatun hegemony is manifest throughout the Petexbatun region, but especially at its capital, Dos Pilas. Large temples and elaborate palaces were rapidly built there while monuments were erected and hieroglyphic stairways constructed. Abundant rich offerings (including tribute from wars) were placed in sacred caves beneath the site as the population reached its peak size, despite the area’s lack of fertile agricultural lands. The early eighth century was a period of wealth, power, and prestige at Dos Pilas. A secondary capital and palace for the Dos Pilas rulers was seated at Aguateca and the ruler and his court apparently moved between these dynastic seats.
World History
