Maya rulers put their personal stamp on monumental complexes

Early Maya cities featured monumental complexes, which centered on a shared form of religion but these complexes transformed radically once kingship emerged in 400 B.C. To solidify their power, rulers throughout the Maya lowlands would change these complexes, installing their mark on the landscape and reshaping how people remember it, according to a Dartmouth study published in Ancient Mesoamerica. Maya ruins in Tikal, Guatemala 2009 [Credit: Chensiyuan] “Just as political...