"The Real Star Wars"
from Chapter Eight, THE LORDS OF TIKAL
Published by Thames and Hudson
Reprinted here with permission
"The Hiatus: War and Outside Dominance"
The prevalence of warfare at Tikal is a feature throughout
most of the life of the city for which records are
available. Virtually the entire Classic period is
characterized by escalating warfare. Researchers have
argued that the introduction of the Mexican spearthrower
known as the "atlatl" had an important effect on the way
warfare was conducted at Tikal. Before its introduction
skirmishes in the forest with short-distance spears and
hand-held weapons limited the amount of damage suffered by
the opposing forces. The spearthrower (or more properly
dart-thrower) changed all that and made long-distance
thrusts a matter of deadly accuracy. This instrument had
been introduced to Tikal during the time of Jaguar Claw I.
The personage known as Spearthrower Owl, a contemporary and
possible relative of Jaguar Claw I, even used the
instrument as part of his name glyph. The first great event
that is likely to have been affected by this instrument was
the conflict between Tikal and Uaxactun in the mid-4th
century.
The role of warfare clearly escalated from this early date.
The causes of alliance and enmity are presumed to rise from
either economic sources or disputes rooted in familial
dissent. Alliance was often achieved by the device of
marrying women of one city's royal family into that of
another city. Tikal had such marriage-based alliances with
a number of its neighbors, near and far. They did not
prevent a breakdown of the friendly relationship which
often ended in armed conflict between former allies. We
know a little about these relationships that led up to and
continued during the Hiatus at Tikal.
The traditional date for the end of the Early Classic
period falls between AD 550 and 600. At Tikal the date of
this major cultural transition depended upon local events
which have been blurred by the prevalence of warfare. A
major defeat of Tikal is recorded in the year AD 562 at the
hands of the city of Caracol, working in conjunction with
Tikal's age-old enemy Calakmul. This claim of defeat of the
great capital of the Maya comes from a carved altar at
Caracol while other inscriptions from this southeastern
city tell us of the alliance with Calakmul.
With this definitive defeat, Tikal fell silent. There are
no known carved monuments, no inscriptions of any kind
recorded at the city for a period of 125 years. Nor were
any structures dedicated or lintels installed for the glory
of a ruler. Because the silence falls precisely during the
transition between cultural periods, the problem of
analysis of events is especially difficult. The Hiatus
itself is unique to the city of Tikal.
However, the written voice from other sectors of the Maya
lowlands is not silent during this period. Whatever horrors
were happening at Tikal did not occur in the same way at
other Maya cities in the lowlands. The fact that
inscriptions are lacking at Tikal over this long period of
time does not mean that they had not been made. Monuments
may well have been erected with texts, but are now lost.
Christopher Jones considers that this was a period of
intense monument destruction. Warfare was prevalent in the
lowlands in general although Tikal was a particular focus -
- an uncharacteristic loser -- during the silent time. The
absence of surviving monuments and texts is assumed to be
the result of domination or the intense conflict of the
period.
The tomb of Lizard Head II (Burial 195) is associated with
the transition from the Early to Late Classic periods as
known by the contents of the grave, although the exact date
of the burial is not known. It is quite possible that this
ruler and his burial post-date the defeat of Tikal, in
which case Lizard Head II may not be of direct genealogical
descent from a Tikal lineage at all. He is one of the
earliest rulers of the Late Classic period at the site.
This vagueness and uncertainty is characteristic of the
change from the Early to Late Classic at Tikal -- it
remains shrouded in mystery.
The Hiatus at Tikal spans from AD 557, the last recorded
date on Stela 17, until AD 682, the first date recorded for
the activities of the 26th ruler, Hasaw Chan K'awil. While
this ruler was not the first ruler known to hold sway over
Tikal at the start of the Late Classic period, he was the
first to restore a written record to the city.
The fact that the Hiatus of Tikal spans the change from one
major cultural period into the next is surely not a
coincidence. One has to ask why a unified cultural system
like that exhibited in the Early Classic period, which had
already endured some three-and-a-half centuries, should
undergo such profound changes as we see in the Later
Classic period.
The explanation in part for such change may be that the
cultural shifts were not as profound to the ancient Maya as
they seem to us. These changes consist primarily of the
abandonment of old shapes and influences in the ceramics --
the most plastic medium of Maya art. There are also changes
in architectural forms. These shifts of style may represent
merely a fading of the influence of Teotihuacan in the
midst of internal conflicts and warfare. By the time of the
Hiatus, the highland civilization itself had dissolved into
oblivion. What emerged at Tikal was a very positive Maya
form of art and architecture with little outside influence.
One could interpret the Early Classic period as a time when
Tikal succumbed to the influence of another culture which
it viewed as superior, adopting its art forms and its
methods and philosophies of warfare. Teotihuacan's
influence had led to a brief period of glory for the city.
However, the focus of warfare took over the structure of
society and escalated throughout the lowlands. For Tikal
this ended in a nasty defeat. While rebirth would come
later, one of the results of the influence of Teotihuacan
was a period of subjugation for Tikal.
The record of the final battle that led to Tikal's Hiatus
is sparse at the site itself. The onset of the strife was
recorded on Stela 17, in which Double Bird told of a
"chopping/cutting" event taking place at a location known
as "Flint Mountain" at the hands of Tikal. This location is
now identified in the city of Caracol, and the event marked
the beginning of a long conflict between the two cities.
Information about Tikal's ensuing fortunes and misfortunes
is gleaned from inscriptions at other cities that had not
been similarly beaten. Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube have
provided the scenario by way of readings of texts from
outside Tikal.
Caracol entered into warfare with Tikal after an earlier
period of alliance based upon familial interaction. The
events leading up to the war with Tikal provide a textbook
diagram of political intrigue. We know, for example, that a
ruler was installed at the city of Naranjo, lying 42 km to
the east of Tikal, under the auspices of the reigning king
of Calakmul in AD 546. Furthermore, conflict with Calakmul
had been in progress for quite some time in the power play
between the two cities that may have been rooted in the
rivalry for the dominance over trade routes. We have to
remember that Tikal and Calakmul both sit astride the
peninsular divide and thus are alternative places where
trade routes could cross in the lucrative overland east-
west route that connected the Caribbean to the Usumacinta
drainage.
Iconography suggests that these two rival cities had a lot
in common. They shared the same protector deity in the form
of the jaguar god and both cities had dynastic leaders with
related lineage names, Jaguar Claw at Tikal and Fire Jaguar
Claw at Calakmul. These convergences suggest an even closer
affiliation, perhaps based on family ties that may have
once connected the patrons of the two cities. It would not
be the only time that enmity between cities was based on an
earlier family connection. Not enough information is
available yet from Calakmul to point to a common dynastic
origin for the two opposing politics. Even if deteriorated
family ties had been a factor, the most likely explanation
for a rivalry that escalated into bloody warfare lasting a
couple of centuries is commercial: competition for control
of trade routes.
Meanwhile, Caracol, some 70 km to the southeast of Tikal,
had installed a new king under the aegis of Tikal's ruler
of the time in AD 553. This must have been the Tikal ruler,
Double Bird, according to the record of known dates. This
installation of a king at Caracol by Tikal took place only
three years before Tikal was at war with the same city. The
installation was likely a failed attempt at control without
warfare. The texts suggest that this act on Tikal's part
was a response to the defection of their neighbor, the city
of Naranjo, lying dangerously close to Tikal's eastern
flank. The geography is important. Naranjo is only 42 km
east of Tikal, and, while not in a straight line, is
located between Tikal and Caracol.
Then in AD 556 Tikal enacted a formal "axe war" against its
former ally Caracol. This type of war, symbolized by an
axe, indicates a serious attack with intent to destroy, but
unlike a "star war" was not determined by ritual of
astronomical timing. The attack was apparently unexpected
and hurt Caracol. Then, just six years later in AD 562,
Caracol retaliated against Tikal with the first recorded
"star war" known in the Maya lowlands. This date is taken
as the date of Tikal's fall to Caracol. A "star war" is a
full-scale war planned in accordance with specific
astronomical events, usually the first appearance in the
morning sky of the planet Venus. The heliacal rising of the
brilliant "star" in the pre-dawn sky was considered by the
Maya as a highly evil portent. As such it was an
appropriate herald of warfare, at least on the part of the
attacker.
Caracol's act of aggression initiated a type of intensive
war that was to be repeated a number of times in the
future, between many different cities in the lowlands.
Noting the dates of these particular conflicts between
Tikal and Caracol we can see that they are a prelude to the
end of the Early Classic period as a cultural marker, but
the conflicts continue on an accelerated scale during the
Late Classic. It would be easy to interpret warfare as the
stimulus of change that brought about the end of the Early
Classic culture in the lowlands as a whole.
Altar 21 at Caracol records the defeat of Tikal, and this
claim coincides with the Hiatus at Tikal, and therefore
bears credence. Although eroded, the text on this important
altar includes a reference to Calakmul, the northern
capital already known to have been in conflict with Tikal
for some time. The reference on Altar 21 suggests that
Calakmul was behind or at least in support of this
particular and seminal "star war" against Tikal. Calakmul
had won a political victory in the struggle for Caracol's
allegiance, probably in hurt retaliation for the surprise
"axe war" that Tikal had enacted against the disputed city,
its former ally. Further reference to an ahau of Calakmul,
and his personal emblem glyph, is found on Caracol Stela 3
at the date of AD 572, confirming that the shift in
allegiance by Caracol from Tikal to Calakmul was complete.
All of these events were critical to both kinds of change
that were occurring in the lowlands: in the cultural
landmarks that distinguish the Early from the Late Classic;
and in shifts of the political landscape.
Further, in AD 588 the birth of a Lord of Caracol is
recorded on Panel I at Naranjo, suggesting a friendly
affiliation between these cities by this time. That a
former ally of Tikal displayed friendship with an enemy of
Tikal indicates a change in the relationship between these
nearest neighbors. This minor event did not bode well for
Tikal. It indicated a tightening military presence slowly
but surely encircling the City of the Lords, in a classic
military pincer movement.
Inscriptions falling between AD 593 and 672 occur at sites
both to the west and to the east of Tikal and these
indicate that business as usual was being conducted on a
friendly basis outside Tikal, while they remained hostile
towards the great city. Notably, Tikal remains in silence
during this entire period. Domination from Caracol, or
possibly from a number of sites in collaboration, including
Calakmul, seems as good an explanation as any currently
available for this silence.
In AD 672 the site of Dos Pilas raised a new presence in
the political landscape, leading to more speculation about
what had been happening at Tikal. At this date, Dos Pilas
recorded its own defeat by a "star war" event launched from
Tikal, showing that Tikal had revived enough to effect this
aggressive attack. As it happened Dos Pilas was a new site
with roots in Tikal, but nevertheless, a hostile rival. The
evidence substantiates this kind of connection, pointing
towards an origin in Tikal for the founders of not just Dos
Pilas but its entire political enclave including three
other sites: Aguateca, Tamarindito, and Punto de Chimino.
One interpretation of the connection between the Dos Pilas
polity and Tikal is that collateral members of the royal
family at Tikal, realizing that they could never aspire to
rulership of the central capital, defected from the city
and established a new base to the west toward the end of
the Early Classic period. Evidence that this splinter
hegemony established a new kingdom at Don Pilas out of
Tikal is found in the dates themselves and the respective
site emblem glyphs. The dates for the beginnings of the Dos
Pilas group coincide with Tikal's time of intense conflict
with surrounding powers.
Also, Dos Pilas itself adopted the Tikal emblem glyph as
its own, as if calling itself "New Tikal." To our Western
way of thinking this suggests most strongly that a
disgruntled member of the Jaguar Claw clan at Tikal
defected, realizing that he/she had little hope of power at
the central capital, already under serious political and
military siege. This personage (or personages) claimed the
emblem glyph of the mother site for him/herself and
proceeded to establish new allegiances, particularly with
cities already hostile to Tikal.
The site of Dos Pilas had come into existence about AD 625,
some 47 years before it recorded its own defeat by Tikal.
Its establishment apparently occurred under the auspices
and support of Calakmul, already well into conflict with
Tikal at this time and all too ready to assist defectors.
This assumed dissension and defection from within the royal
family must have been a blow to the current ruler already
under severe siege by surrounding sites. The piracy of the
Tikal city emblem glyph probably would never have succeeded
without the support of a powerful ally like Calakmul.
These events have been argued convincingly by Schele,
Grube, and Martin. By AD 588 Tikal found itself threatened
by Caracol in the southeast, by Naranjo to the nearby east,
by the giant Calakmul to the north, and even by the Dos
Pilas hegemony to the west. Tikal was virtually surrounded
by enemies. The beleaguered city's best allies lay far
away, Palenque to the far west and Copan to the far south.
We know that the leader of the attack on Dos Pilas in AD
672 was Shield Skull I (Nu Bak Chak I) of Tikal, the 25th
ruler in Tikal's succession, and this event fell within
Tikal's period of silence. The record of the event is at
Dos Pilas. The last ruler with a written record at Tikal
was Lizard Head II, the 22nd ruler. This leaves a gap of
two unknown rulers, the 23rd and 24th in the succession. As
Genevieve Michel has noted, this is a very murky period
with few clues to the identity of these missing rulers.
The clues that do exist come from painted inscriptions on
ceramic vessels, one from Tikal and two of unknown
provenance. These refer to a minor lord who lived at Tikal
under the reign of lizard Head II. This minor lord, a
sahal, was named "Star Jaguar" and he may have become the
23rd ruler. This person's son was called "Long Snout" and
he may, in turn, have become the missing 24th ruler. These
observations, however, are speculation filling in a cloudy
gap. Because of the warfare and defeat of Tikal the rulers
of this period could have been interlopers from Caracol,
unrelated conquerors from Calakmul, or even suppressed
descendants of the Jaguar Claw family itself. We simply do
not know. The passage and transformation from the Early to
the Late Classic at Tikal was a difficult time.
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