Hurricanes Did Not Doom Ancient Mayan Civilization Jenna Iacurci - Nature World News
go to original November 11, 2014

Persistent drought, along with disease, warfare and worn-out soils, caused the collapse of the Mayan civilization. But it was always thought that hurricanes were the driving factor, fueling the lack of rain; that is, until new research showed that these storms did not in fact doom these ancient people.

Published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists from Skidmore College explain how an ancient stalagmite found in a cave in the northern Yucatán Peninsula provides evidence that hurricane activity during the last years of the Mayans was not much different from earlier or later centuries.

Stalagmites are rock formations that form on cave floors, created from the accumulation of mineral deposits from the ceiling, USA Today reports. By counting the annual layers within the stalagmite and seeing which years contained mud layers, the researchers were able to estimate year-to-year hurricane activity.

As it turns out there was plenty of mud left behind, indicating that the cave frequently flooded and hurricanes were plentiful right before the Mayans collapsed. Unfortunately for their civilization, that means they were not only dealing with severe drought, but hurricanes as well.

So hurricanes did not in fact doom the Mayan civilization, but the severe droughts they experienced the rest of the time ultimately led to their collapse.

Read the whole story at Nature World News

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