Rescuing the Origins of Dos Pilas Dynasty:
A Salvage of Hieroglyphic Stairway #2, Structure L5-49

Stairway 2, West Section

Step 6 (Figure 13)

The uppermost step of Stairway 2, West was apparently damaged in ancient times and when the stairway was rebuilt part of the glyphic text was not re-carved. As a result there are only four blocks instead of the normal six. The inscription, therefore, begins with only the bottom part of a MUWAAHN glyph which must have been part of a date. In order to try to reconstruct the date it is necessary to continue reading the text and to research similar possible dates in other Dos Pilas texts.

The next glyph after the MUWAAHN is a war against Dos Pilas done by NUUN (u) JOL CHAK and the subsequent flight of Ruler 1 to a site identified by a god "CHAK-na" glyph. This place is still unknown but again must be in the vicinity of the Petexbatún basin. The use of "serpent superfix" over the "ha" glyph for Dos Pilas appears for the first time in this part of the text and gives way to the use of the zoomorphic Tikal-like emblem glyph used in the other two sections, although this serpentine glyph as a place name (Stuart and Houston, 1994) is used after this, the ruler uses the K’UHUL MUTUL (a) AJAW glyph, at the end of each of the following steps, in its normal form.

Dos Pilas Stairway 4, Step 3 has a date of 4 AK’BAL 11 MUWAAHN (9.12.1.0.3 or 672) which fits nicely in the sequence of dates in this section of Stairway 2 and relates the same star war against Dos Pilas by Tikal’s ruler. Therefore the date in Step 6, Stairway 2, West must be the same as that of Stairway 4. Unfortunately this is the only information that can be obtained given the damage that the step suffered.

Step 5 (Figure 14)

This step has the usual six glyph blocks although the upper right part of the text is also destroyed and therefore some parts of the text are missing and difficult to decipher. The inscription begins with the usual distance number of eleven k’in and seven winal followed by what seems to be a star war against a site whose name glyph was totally effaced. Given comparisons with broken sections of other parts of the text this seems to have been done deliberately. Perhaps the idea behind this effacement was to erase the name of the site which had suffered the attack. The next event happens in 661 (9.11.8.13.14,  7 IX 17 ZEK) eleven years before the previous date on Step 6 so it is a remembrance of some action done close to the time when the K’AWIIL of Tikal mentioned in Step 6, East was killed and also when the attack on KOBAN AJAW occurred. The event that happened at this time is a "PULUY" act which means "burning" and although the next glyph is half destroyed it is possible to read an IMIX sign which clearly can be the main sign of the Dos Pilas toponym. Burning of sites apparently happens during these wars and in the case of Steps 6 and 5 there is some evidence of destruction by this method so that glyphic texts and reality can be compared.

The text moves forward in time with a nonfunctional distance number of 7 k’in and 2 winal to the date 9 AK’BAL 6 YAXK’IN in 9.12.1.0.3 or ten winal after the flight of Ruler 1 in Step 6 to the "CHAK-na" place. As stated earlier Step 3 of Stairway 4 mentions the star war against Ruler 1 by NUUN (u) JOL CHAK of Tikal and therefore these events happening a few months later are part of the same prolonged war. Because of the destruction of the step the attack this time is to a site identified only by the subfix T4, "nah" which must be the place where Ruler 1 had fled according to the text in Step 6. The action was done by a Tikal AJAW and Ruler 1 is forced to flee again this time to the IX WITZ place. The expression of this episode is "LOK’I ba-la-ja CHAN K’AWIIL TABAY IX WITZ".

It took five years for Ruler 1 to come back from this exile and to defeat his Tikal enemy who had occupied Dos Pilas and taken over the important Petexbatún basin.

Step 4

This step begins with the usual distance number of twelve k’in, one winal and five tun since a war against Dos Pilas. The date refers to the star war against Dos Pilas that happened five tun earlier.

The next sentence begins with the date 3 IX 16 MUAN and another star war this time against the Tikal king who was encamped in Dos Pilas and which, after a burning expression, is forced to leave as stated by the LOK’I verb. The glyphs following NUUN-(u) JOL CHAK’s name appear on Steps 6 and 5 of Stairway 2, East also after a war situation and so can be read as TABAY pa-TUUN or "he climbed to the Paptun place".

Seven days later and using the word "ta-la" to express this span of time Ruler 1 returns (hu-li) to Dos Pilas using the title "u-CHAN ta (h)-mo’" to reinforce the triumphant warrior category among his rivals and neighbors.

Step 4 uses a series of as yet difficult glyphs to decipher fully. However, it is very clear in the text that Ruler 1 arrives in Dos Pilas seven days after the flight of the Tikal king meaning that he was not attacking the site itself but some distance away and that the burning event was not in Dos Pilas but somewhere else. The place to where the ruler of Tikal goes is written as "pap’ TUUN", a site of which there is no further information at present but Step 6, East, has a person from this unknown place which must have been in the general area east of the Petexbatún.

Step 3

Among the steps of Stairway 2 this is the one that proclaims the final triumph of Calakmul and Dos Pilas over Tikal. In a sense it is the equivalent to a glory obelisk since it gives a date for the battle and its consequences.

The anchor date is 9.12.7.0.0, 8 AJAW 13 TZEK and is followed by "his 7^th tun". After that the reader is told that on 11 CABAN 10 ZOTZ, or one tun before "hu-bu-yi u-TOK-PAKAL NUUN-U JOL CHAK". This is the moment of the defeat on Tikal’s ruler and probable sacrifice since he is not mentioned in any Maya inscriptions again. But further information on the text of Step 3 goes on to say that "na-jal u’ ch’ich’wa "WITZ-aj u-BAK-(ki) OXLAHUN TAK-(ku) MUTUL (la) NAL". This long sentence seems to indicate that blood pooled and the bones of the peoples of the central place were piled up.

This as yet not fully understood information must refer to a massacre of the population and high ranking individuals of the court of Tikal and perhaps sacrifice of peoples of the allied bareas of the center of the Petén areas.

Dos Pilas Ruler 1 again uses de "ba-ca-ba" warrior title and further does not acknowledge NUUN(u) JOL CHAK with a royal kingly title but calls the victims "from the Tikal place" thereby maintaining his claims to rulership and legitimacy.

Step 2

This step has already been deciphered by Linda Schele and Nikolai Grube (1994). There are two main events that paralleled messages from Stairway 4, Steps 1 and 5. The first event is a celebration with a dance "ak’ot-(ta)" on 9.12.10.0.0 or 682. This happens in the company of YUKNOOM CH’EEN of Calakmul. Dos Pilas Stela 9 shows BALAJ CHAN K’ AWIIL with the Tikal Maiz god dress in the dance refered to here. His shield has the "u naahk’ nal K’ INICH" Tikal royal title.

Although Dos Pilas Panel 7 relates that ba-la-ja CHAN K’AWIIL "witnessed" or "saw" the accession ceremony of a Calakmul ruler, presumably as a guest in that site in 686, there is no evidence that he went to Calakmul four tun earlier again. The reference may be a metaphorical one since traveling long distances for a man almost sixty years old must have been at best strenuous. The 682 date was also celebrated by a long series of ceremonies in Cancuén performed by the ruler of that site who was also an ally of the Calakmul king, and on Stela 6 at Copán and on Stela 38 at Piedras Negras among other sites.

The next event happens on the date 2 IK’ 10 MUAN or two years later with the celebration of the "OX TAL-ya u-KATUN" anniversary the birth of Ruler 1. This latter date is on 9.12.12.11.2 or 684 when the king was 59 years old. This important event is also celebrated on Stairway 4, Step 1 with the same u-TAL sign and this time the reader is told that an "AK’OT-ja tu-OX-a he-ne" dance was performed to mark the birthday in a special dance platform. This would have happened on the main plaza or in the royal residence patio where Stairway 4 was placed.

The anniversary was so important that Step 5 which has an Initial Series and is placed just above Step 4 also with an Initial Series, may have been carved just for the occasion since two Initial Series expressions one above the other is not a common occurrence.

Step 1

The information on this step would have been crucial to the knowledge of the succession but unfortunately the left half is broken and therefore lacks at least four glyph blocks which contained the dates as is usual in all the other steps.

The remaining blocks can be read starting with the name of ITZAMNAAJ B’ALAM followed by the name of his mother the Lady of Itzan. Because he is the only nominal in the stairways that refers to a descendent of Ruler 1 and his wife he must be the next in the line of succession. However Houston (1993) ignores his status and calls ITZAMNAAJ K’AWIIL Ruler 2. Martin and Grube believe however, as we do, that ITZAMNAAJ B’ALAM was, albeit a short rule, the next in line after Ruler 1.

Because there is very little information on this older brother, ITZAMNAAJ B’ALAM, must have died young since his birth probably occurred between 677 or 679 and 684. He therefore ascended the throne no older than 13 years old perhaps creating a dynastic crisis when he died in 698.

The birth date of the younger brother was at 673 (9.12.0.10.11) although Stela 8 shows a manipulated long count of 7 tun later because as Werner Nahm believes (Schele and Grube, 1954) his father was in exile and Dos Pilas occupied by Tikal troops.

The information that Step 2 gives the reader is important even though there is no possible confirmation on the role of the two brothers and their ways of acceding to the throne. Mayanists are prone to read violent acts in the accession to rulership, when no clear signs can be read. However one must not forgot disease and death as a possible reason for succession at an early age between brothers.

Commentary

As befits a final historical document, Stairway 2, West recounts the final triumphal events of Ruler 1 and his heroic deeds. The last four steps tell the reader of this final defeat of Tikal and possible sacrifice of this life long enemy, the birth of his son, and the strength of his alliance with the most powerful state and ruler at the time namely Calakmul.

Calakmul plays an important part of the history of Dos Pilas as it does in other sites and the rulers of these polities make sure that the general public is aware of this. The nature of the information in all the stairways is to praise Ruler 1 and thus even when negative events happen to Dos Pilas they only serve to magnify the eventual return of the ruler and his defeat of the enemy much as in the case of Step 4 where the text informs the reader of a defeat by Tikal and of the banishment of the ruler only make sure it is known that in Step 3 there is a reversal of fortunes and Dos Pilas gets the final say.

By placing the birth of his son in one of the steps (Step 2) ba-la-ja CHAN K’AWIIL makes sure that the succession is known and accepted by all to avoid whatever unknown event forced him into exile and displaced him from the Tikal throne. Demarest and others (1987; 1988; 1989; 1986; Sharer, 1988a; 1989b; Sablah, 1986) has argued about the need for charismatic, powerful qualities in order to rule in the theater like galactic polities and thus the need to announce successors in a very public way and at an early stage of their lives. The theory of peer polities also needs orderly successions to guarantee the security of states and their inhabitants. Whichever theoretical model are presented and understood, strong rulers and strong and accepted heirs are vital to the success of states.

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