New research has scientist claiming that the ancient Mayan civilization may owe its rise and fall to climate change. Hit the jump for more.
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The researchers, whose findings appear in the current issue of the journal Science, reconstructed rainfall patterns using cross-sections of stalagmites from a cave near the ancient city of Uxbenka, in what is now southern Belize. First, they dated the samples with the technique called uranium-thorium dating; then, to generate a climate record, they measured oxygen isotopes, which are sensitive to rainfall.
The early classic Maya period — about A.D. 450 to 660 — “was remarkably wet,” said an author of the study, Douglas Kennett, a geo-archaeologist at Penn State. “There was a proliferation of population, an increase in agriculture and a rise in divine kings that became prominent leaders.”
But then things dried up. The researchers compared the climate record with an existing “war index” — a log of hostile events based on how often certain keywords occurred in Maya inscriptions on stone monuments — and found a strong correlation between drought and warfare between cities.
“About A.D. 660, you get indications of some social stress that goes up in tandem with this drying period,” Dr. Kennett said.
