Archaeologists in northern Guatemala unearthed a colonnaded open hall that may have served as a council house, where local leaders and everyday people met to discuss political issues

This colonnaded open hall—unearthed in the Maya city of Ucanal in 2024—may have been a council house. Christina Halperin

Around 810 C.E., a man named Papmalil rose to power in Ucanal , a Maya city in what is now northern Guatemala. Linguistic evidence and artifacts unearthed at the site suggest he may have hailed from a Nahua-speaking community in Central Mexico, making him a “powerful outsider” at a time of great upheaval for the Maya, anthropologist Simon Martin wrote for Expedition magazine in 2024.

Papmalil’s ascent coincided with the end of the Classic period , which began around 300 C.E. and is widely considered the height of Maya civilization.…