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DOS PILAS

A. Dos Pilas
    1. Ruler 1
       a) son took over in AD 690
    2. Ruler 2
       a) reigned between 698 and 725
       b) expanded influence of Dos Pilas through marriage
          1) sister became queen of Naranjo
          2) daughter became ensconced at Tamarindito
       c) stela identifies Ruler 2 as overlord of Tamarindito
    3. Ruler 3
       a) usurped the power of nearby Seibal
       b) stela shows him with lord of Seibal underfoot
       c) duplicate stela erected at Aguateca
       d) brought wife from Cancuen
          1) eventually buried in sumptuous tomb at Dos Pilas
             a> found with a mouthful of jade
    4. Ruler 4
       a) greatest imperialist of all
       b) conquered entire Petexbatun region
          1) kingdom covered about 1500 square miles
          2) domain was more that three times the size of average kingdom
       c) died in AD 760 at the hands of rebels from Tamarindito
       d) demise led to collapse of empire
          1) people who had lived around center erected village in the
             middle of the ceremonial plaza
             a> central plaza covered with pebbled flooring
             b> houses built virtually on top of one another
          2) wall made from decorative facing materials from Ruler 2's
             tomb and the principal palace
             a> evidence for hasty construction
          3) equivalent of tearing down Washington Monument and Lincoln
             Memorial to fortify a tent city on the Capitol Mall
       e) possible problems
          1) aristocracy swollen by polygamy
             a> too many heirs vying for the throne
          2) "Any society that depends on growth economics, with elites
             demanding ever-greater levels of material well-being,
             eventually reaches its limits." (Demarest)
          3) temple construction requires workers to be fed
          4) population increases along with agricultural production
          5) soldiers required by ruler to control society
          6) trade disrupted as social patterns change
          7) investment in long-term crops dwindles
          8) refugees living behind defensive walls farm only adjacent
             areas, resulting in environmental disaster
             a> warfare pushed already stressed and overextended population
                over the edge
             b> ordinary farmers for the first time had to defend their
                cornfields and settlements against outside attackers
          9) confidence in leaders declines with quality of life
         10) ritual activity, the glue of society, delines
    5. Rulers 5 & 6
       a) took refuge at Aguateca
       b) Seibal taken over by invaders
          1) flourished when everything else had collapsed
 B. Aguateca
    1. fortress-like site high on a bluff above Lake Petexbatun
    2. reached by a natural bridge over a deep chasm
 C. Punta de Chimino
    1. compact fortress city
    2. evidence for intensive agriculture found nearby
       a) may have supported population of 15,000
       b) area where only a few hundred Guatemalans live today
    3. peninsula severed from the mainland by three moats
       a) one cut so deeply into bedrock that it required three times
          the energy used to build the city itself
          1) cut 30 ft into bedrock and edged by 30 ft high wall of loose
             rock
          2) equivalent of spending 75% of a nation's budget on defense
    4. over 70 broken spearpoints found outside the fortress walls
 
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