opulation and agricultural resources, encircling an area of approximately 120 square kilometres (46 sq mi). Recent research suggests that the earthworks served as a water collection system rather than a defensive purpose.
Tikal and Copán
In the 5th century the power of the city reached as far south as Copán, whose founder K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' was clearly connected with Tikal. Copán itself was not in an ethnically Maya region and the founding of the Copán dynasty probably involved the direct intervention of Tikal. K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' arrived in Copán in December 426 and bone analysis of his remains shows that he passed his childhood and youth at Tikal. An individual known as Ajaw K'uk' Mo' (lord K'uk' Mo') is referred to in an early text at Tikal and may well be the same person. His tomb had Teotihuacan characteristics and he was depicted in later portraits dressed in the warrior garb of Teotihuacan. Hieroglyphic texts refer to him as "Lord of the West", much like Siyah K’ak’. At the same time, in late 426, Copán founded the nearby site of Quiriguá, possibly sponsored by Tikal itself. The founding of these two centres may have been part of an effort to impose Tikal's authority upon the southeastern portion of the Maya region. The interaction between these sites and Tikal was intense over the next three centuries.
A long-running rivalry between Tikal and Calakmul began in the 6th century, with each of the two cities forming its own network of mutually hostile alliances arrayed against each other in what has been likened to a long-running war between two Maya superpowers. The kings of these two capitals adopted the title kaloomte', a term that has not been precisely translated but that implies something akin to "high king".
The early 6th century saw another queen ruling the city, known only as the "Lady of Tikal", who was very likely a daughter of Chak Tok
