Subscribe to CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter for insights into the cosmos and groundbreaking discoveries in the world of science. For over a millennium, the dense forests of the Mexican state of Campeche cloaked a remarkable ancient history. The region, long regarded as an archaeological “blank spot” within the Maya Lowlands — an area stretching across present-day Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico — was home to the Maya civilization from around 1000 BC to AD 1500.