This hiatus in activity at Tikal was long unexplained until later epigraphic decipherments identified that the period was prompted by Tikal's comprehensive defeat at the hands of Calakmul and the Caracol polity in AD 562, a defeat that seems to have resulted in the capture and sacrifice of the king of Tikal.
Este tempo de inactividade de Tikal foi inesplicable durante moito tempo ata que posteriormente a resolución dos xeroglíficos identificaron que este período foi provocado pola derrota completa de Tikal a mans de Calakmul e Caracol no 562, unha derrota que resultou na captura e sacrificio do rei de Tikal.