By the 9th century , the crisis of the Classic Maya collapse was sweeping across the region , with populations plummeting and city after city falling into silence . Increasingly endemic warfare in the Maya region caused Tikal 's supporting population to heavily concentrate close to the city itself , accelerating the use of intensive agriculture and corresponding environmental decline . Construction continued at the beginning of the century , with the erection of Temple 3 , the last of the city 's major pyramids and the erection of monuments to mark the 19th K 'atun in 810 . The beginning of the 10th Bak 'tun in 830 passed uncelebrated , and marks the beginning of a 60 @-@ year hiatus , probably resulting from the collapse of central control in the city . During this hiatus , satellite sites traditionally under Tikal 's control began to erect their own monuments featuring local rulers and using the Mutal emblem glyph , with Tikal apparently lacking the authority or the power to crush these bids for independence . In 849 , Jewel K 'awiil is mentioned on a stela at Seibal as visiting that city as the Divine Lord of Tikal but he is not recorded elsewhere and Tikal 's once great power was little more than a memory . The sites of Ixlu and Jimbal had by now inherited the once exclusive Mutal emblem glyph .