FOR DECADES, scholars have argued about what caused the so-called Maya collapse. Several million Maya lived in southeastern Mexico and northern Central America in the early 800s. A hundred years later ...

The chemical composition of the sediment indicated periods of sparse rainfall during the Mayan decline, thought likely between AD800 and AD1000. The mysterious collapse of the ancient Mayan ...

Golden believes researchers should try to understand the collapse as an avoidable outcome of Maya leaders’ political choices. For example, he says, “the rulers of places like Piedras Negras chose to ...