Maya more warlike than previously thought
(PHYSorg.com Archaeology & Fossils)

What was the role of warfare in Mayan civilization? New evidence from lake sediments around the abandoned city of Witzna indicates that extreme, total warfare was not just an aspect of the late Mayan period, leading to its fall, but a characteristic of intercity rivalry during the peak of Mayan culture. UC Berkeley and Tulane University researchers discovered a thick charcoal layer from a massive, scorched-earth attack on Witzna on May 21, 697 CE (AD).