Dos Pilas is a
Pre-Columbian site of the
Maya civilization located in what is now the
department of
Petén,
Guatemala. It dates to the
Late Classic Period, being founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of
Tikal in AD 629 in order to control
trade routes in the
Petexbatún region, particularly the
Pasión River. In AD 648 Dos Pilas broke away from Tikal and became a vassal state of
Calakmul, although the first two kings of Dos Pilas continued to use the same
emblem glyph that Tikal did. It was a predator state from the beginning, conquering
Itzan,
Arroyo de Piedra and
Tamarindito. Dos Pilas and a nearby city,
Aguateca, eventually became the twin capitals of a single ruling dynasty. The kingdom as a whole has been named as the Petexbatun Kingdom, after Lake Petexbatún, a body of water draining into the Pasión River.