# Caracol's Last Dated Monument (859)

URL: https://allhistories.com/belize/timeline/859-caracol-s-last-dated-monument
Location: Caracol, Cayo District
Themes: main-event

By the mid-ninth century the kingdoms of the southern Maya lowlands were collapsing one after another. Royal inscriptions ceased at Naranjo after about 820 and at Tikal after 869, as dynasties lost authority and populations declined. At Caracol, the last kings continued to commemorate period endings. In 849 (10.1.0.0.0) a ruler known as K'an III raised Stela 17, showing two seated lords facing each other, together with Altar 10. The final dated monument is Stela 10 in the A-Group Plaza, dedicated on 10.1.10.0.0, which corresponds to AD 859. Unusually for Caracol, it carries a glyphic text on one face, a format found at other late sites such as Uaxactun and Jimbal. It is the last date recorded in Classic Ch'olti'an within the borders of modern Belize; Yucatec-speaking Lamanai continued longer as a living centre. After 859 no more royal monuments were raised at Caracol. Caana was abandoned around 900, although some buildings remained in use, and the final structure, A6, was abandoned around 1050. The end of the inscriptions marks the close of Caracol's dynastic history, which had begun more than five centuries earlier with Te' K'ab Chaak. At this point in the timeline (859), the Ajaw (king) of Caracol was Ruler XIII (c. 859).

## Why it matters
Stela 10 marks the end of written royal history at Belize's greatest Maya city.

Ruler at the Time: [Ruler XIII](https://allhistories.com/belize/rulers/ruler-xiii)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Caracol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracol)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Caracol Maya](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Caracol+Maya)
- [Wikipedia — Classic Maya collapse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Maya_collapse)
- [Caracol Archaeological Project (A. F. and D. Z. Chase)](http://www.caracol.org/)