During an important calendrical celebration in 889 CE, Lord K'ak' Upakal may have sat atop his ornate palace and observed the bustling hub he'd helped Chichen Itza become.
The Maya city's golden age would outlast K'ak' Upakal's own life, but he couldn't have known the crises that lay ahead.
A century before, warfare and failing agriculture forced Maya people to abandon numerous Central American settlements.
This shifted the center of their civilization north, to hotter, drier Yucatan.
During the early 800s, cities like Chichen Itza, Izamal, and Uxmal expanded.
But Yucatan presented its own challenges.
Surface water was scarce and the region's limestone bedrock rapidly absorbed rain.
This forced many Yucatecan cities to collect rainwater in cisterns.
But the land surrounding Chichen Itza is pocked with sinkholes, where collapsed bedrock reveals an abundant supply of fresh groundwater.
Because of this freshwater access, when drought seized Yucatan in the early 900s, Chichen Itza survived to become the most powerful Maya city.
