A digital reconstruction of two inscribed stones from the cities of Witzna and Naranja, one of which contains a phrase indicating that Witzna was burned. (Credit: Wahl et al./Nature Human Behaviour)

The Maya Classic Period, which stretched between roughly 300 and 900 A.D. is typically seen as a kind of golden age for the ancient Central American civilization. Populations boomed, supported by vast systems of terraced fields and canals that provided irrigation in the dry months. Art and scienc