Which ruler is listed as the founder of Tikal's dynasty?

Yax Ehb Xook is listed as the founder of Tikal’s dynasty.

He is generally placed in the first century AD, often around AD 90, making him a very early figure in Tikal’s long royal sequence. Unlike later kings, he left no securely identified monuments recording his own reign. Knowledge of him comes largely from archaeological evidence and from later Tikal rulers who recognized him as their dynastic ancestor.

The founder label does not necessarily mean that Yax Ehb Xook created Tikal from an empty site. Earlier occupation in the area shows that the settlement existed before his reign. He may instead have established the ruling dynasty or gained founder status through political actions that later kings considered decisive.

The other options belong to much later points in Tikal’s history. Siyaj Chan Kʼawiil I ruled in the early fourth century, while Chak Tok Ichʼaak I was the fourteenth ruler and died in 378. Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I ruled centuries later, during Tikal’s Late Classic revival.