Drought May Have Led to End of Mayan Civilization ZeeNews
go to original December 29, 2014

Aerial view of the Blue Hole in Belize (Tony Rath Photography)

The ancient Mayan civilization may have collapsed due to a century-long drought, a new research suggests.

Researchers analyzed minerals taken from Belize's famous underwater cave, known as the Blue Hole, as well as lagoons nearby, and found that an extreme drought occurred between AD 800 and AD 900, right when the Mayan civilization disintegrated.

Although the findings are not the first to link a drought to the Mayan culture's demise, the new results strengthen the case that dry periods were indeed the culprit.

From AD 300 to AD 700, the Mayan civilization flourished in the Yucatan peninsula. In the centuries after AD 700, the civilization's building activities slowed and the culture descended into warfare and anarchy, 'Live Science' reported.

A 2012 study in the journal Science analyzed a 2,000-year-old stalagmite from a cave in southern Belize and found that sharp decreases in rainfall coincided with periods of decline in the culture.

Read the rest at ZeeNews

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