Dos PilasArticle Free Pass Dos Pilas, ancient capital of the
Petexbatún kingdom of the Maya, situated near the Salinas River
in what is now Petén, west-central Guatemala, about 5 miles (8
km) east of the border with Mexico. At the height of its
hegemony the kingdom covered an area of some 1,500 square miles
(3,885 square km). At the turn of the 21st century,
archaeologists were still piecing together the history of Dos
Pilas. Excavations at the Dos Pilas site in 1991 revealed the
tomb of a king—as yet known only as Ruler 2 (reigned c.
698–725). Further work in 2001 and 2002 exposed glyphs on a
stairway that have resulted in a major revision of scholarly
opinion regarding the decline of Mayan civilization about ad
900. The writing gives evidence that Dos Pilas was founded about
ad 629, notes the birth of the man who became Ruler I, and marks
the several ceremonial events of his life. Glyphs on other
portions of the Dos Pilas structure note an attack on the city
by Calakmul, another centre of power, and seem to