New Findings Shatter Old Mayan Theories

Some experts want to drain Mayan history of its high drama—the sudden collapse, and desperate migration—to tell a longer, slower story, USA Today reports. Classic history claims that Mayan cities imploded quickly around 900 AD, and their people trekked north to colonize in the Yucatan—but experts now say that Mayans had already lived there for 1,000 years.

Also, Mayan cities probably broke up due to decades of local disasters, not a single catastrophe: "The public needs to understand that the so-called Maya collapse was not an overnight affair that resulted in the total disappearance of the Maya people," one expert said, adding that indigenous Maya still exist. "The collapse took place over a period of more than 200 years." (More Mayans stories.)