The Maya Classic Period, which stretched between roughly 300 and 900 A.D. is typically seen as a kind of golden age for the ancient Central American civilization. Populations boomed, supported by vast systems of terraced fields and canals that provided irrigation in the dry months. Art and science flourished, while city-states grew side-by-side, if not always harmoniously.
Warfare during this period was traditionally thought of as somewhat ritualistic in nature, far from the kind of raze and burn aggression that defined the next era of Maya society, when people started to abandon cities. During the Classic period, major city-states like Tikal and Caracol would embark on campaigns of annexation, but their conquests wouldn’t typically result in total destruction. The prevailing view is that this period was, overall, a more peaceful time for the Maya.
