The Washington Post today carried this article detailing the discovery of an intreuging archeological find:

Whoever they were, the invaders made short work of the enormous palace in the Mayan lowlands, ignoring half-built ramparts to corral nearly three dozen members of the royal household, systematically murder them with spears and axes, then dismember the corpses and dump the pieces into a ceremonial cistern.

Then the killers left, never to return, according to new research being reported today. Cancuen, a thriving trade hub at the headwaters of the Rio Pasion, was reclaimed by the jungle. The ritual massacre of its leaders around A.D. 800 is perhaps a key puzzle piece in the decline and ultimate collapse of Mayan civilization in what is now Central America.

A nice look at just how much information you can get digging through trash and looking at bones.