<Tr> <Td> Aj Took' </Td> <Td> c. 909 </Td> <Td>--</Td> </Tr> <P> At Calakmul's peak in the 7th century, the polity was known as Kan . Interesting to know is that the title Kan was used at another place before Calakmul became a regional powerhouse . The Preclassic political state in the Mirador Basin also used the title Kan . There is the idea that, after the collapse of the Mirador state, its refugees migrated north towards Calakmul, where they founded a new Kan polity . However, epigraphical studies of the monuments at Calakmul show that prior to the 7th century AD the emblem glyph of Calakmul had nothing to do with a snake, but with a bat . It seems that a different polity ruled there . The Kan emblem glyph, before being associated with Calakmul, is found (once) at Dzibanché, a site more towards the east . Perhaps during the late 6th / early 7th century, the polity at Dzibanché moved to Calakmul in order to establish a more strategically placed capital . After Calakmul's power dwindled in the 8th century, after the rule of Yuknoom Took K'awiil, it appears that the bat emblem glyph made its resurgence . Still, many uncertainties remain and new epigraphical studies have to be done to fill the gaps . </P> <P> Calakmul has a long occupational history and excavations have revealed evidence from the Middle Preclassic right through to the Postclassic . The causeway network that linked Calakmul with the cities of El Mirador, Nakbe and El Tintal suggest strong political links between the four cities that may have begun in the Preclassic, when both Calakmul and El Mirador were important cities, and continued into the Classic period when Calakmul itself was the most powerful city in the region . Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands . </P> <P> The history of the Maya Classic period is dominated by the rivalry between Tikal and Calakmul, likened to a struggle between two Maya "superpowers". Earlier times tended to be dominated by a single larger city and by the Early Classic Tikal was moving into this position after the dominance of El Mirador in the Late Preclassic and Nakbe in the Middle Preclassic . However Calakmul was a rival city with equivalent resources that challenged the supremacy of Tikal and engaged in a strategy of surrounding it with its own network of allies . From the second half of the 6th century AD through to the late 7th century Calakmul gained the upper hand although it failed to extinguish Tikal's power completely and Tikal was able to turn the tables on its great rival in a decisive battle that took place in AD 695 . Half a century later Tikal was able to gain major victories over Calakmul's most important allies . Eventually both cities succumbed to the spreading Classic Maya collapse . </P>

Ancient maya city and protected tropical forests of calakmul campeche