The End of the Maya Kingdom

A TEAM OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVERED clues from between A.D. 733 and 881 that they say represent a key turning point in Maya rule-and a very public one at that.

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The discovery at the Maya site of Ucanal in Guatemala "marked a public dismantling of an old regime"-a rather pivotal moment in the collapse of rulers and a key point in a shift in political power, the team wrote in a study published in the journal Antiquity.

The event in question occurred at the capital of the K'anwitznal kingdom near a burial site. The bodies and their ornaments-items include a jewel adorned stone mask, fragments of a greenstone diadem, and jade ornaments-were moved from a tomb to a public burning site, where fire engulfed some of the centuries-old items for all to see.