As the Maya built out their society even further, they laid the foundations for complex trade networks ... where more than 30 languages stemming from ancient Mayan are still spoken.

The city of "Los Abuelos" takes its name from two human-like sculptures of an "ancestral couple" found at the site.

Evidence suggested some form of contact, but the question remained: was this merely trade influence ... a potential ancient colony nestled within one of the most powerful Maya cities.

Archaeologists working in an ancient Mayan city have unearthed a mysterious ... to the view that this was not light contact, or mere trade. It involved belligerent forces building an enclave ...

Then, in 964, the Itzás, a Maya-speaking people from the Petén rain forest around Tikal, moved into the city. Archeologists have fully explored only about 20 or 30 of several hundred buildings ...