Naachtun: A Lost City of the Maya

Page 7 of 9

• 1. An abandoned city
• 2. Wartime affiliations
• 3. History of investigations
• 4. Gathering the evidence
• 5. The Kingdom of Masuul
• 6. Traces of ritual
• 7. Changing allegiances
• 8. Defensive fortifications
• 9. Find out more
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Changing allegiances

A familial relationship with Tikal is also suggested by texts and images on Naachtun Stela 9, dating to 731. This stela depicts a lady of Tikal at Naachtun, probably the wife of a local ruler, and suggests that the political and familial alliance of Naachtun and Tikal continued until at least this period.

Finally, Naachtun changed allegiances again during the later half of the eighth century. In the texts on Naachtun Stela B5, titles closely associated with Calakmul are used to describe an individual at Naachtun. The stela specifically names the individual as 'he of Calakmul' and states that he was responsible for the erection of the stela in 761.

'The city played the role of 'piggy in the middle' between two superpower neighbours.'

Mayan hieroglyphic texts suggest that Masuul's (Naachtun's) Late Classic existence was a precarious one politically, alternating in affiliation between Calakmul to the north and Tikal to the south - another indication that, throughout its history, the city played the role of 'piggy in the middle' between two superpower neighbours.

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