What has happened since May?

The reason put forward by scientists is not new. It’s been talked about as one of the possibilities for years, but until now no one was as confident as the team led by Douglas J. Kennett. They put the real blame on them a long drought, which led to civil conflict and political collapse. As a result of these processes, people in large cities probably retreated to smaller, safer settlements.

Multiple data sources indicate that civil strife increased significantly, and generalized linear modeling links urban strife to arid conditions between AD 1400 and 1450. We argue that prolonged drought increased tensions between rival groups, but that later adaptation points to regional resilience that allowed Maya political and economic structures to persist until European contact in the early 16th century CE.
– researchers write in their article.

The team already had a wealth of historical records to study, covering changes in population, diet and climate. These records were supported by new analyzes of human remains for signs of traumatic injury indicative of conflict. Thus, a clear correlation was found between increased rainfall and population growth in the region, as well as between further decreases in rainfall and increased conflict.

A prolonged drought between 1400-1450 AD most likely caused Mayapan to decline. Water scarcity can affect agricultural practices and trade routes, leading to stress in the lives of urban residents. As food became scarce and the situation increasingly dangerous, people either died or fled.

Our findings confirm Mayapan’s legendary institutional collapse between 1441 and 1461 CE. It was the result of an internal conflict arising from political rivalries and ambitions, and was engraved in the collective memory of the peoples of Yucatan, whose testimonies are contained in the written sources of the early colonial period.
– write researchers.

The movement of people to other parts of the Yucatan Peninsula, especially the prosperous coastal cities and politically independent settlements, helped Mayan culture continue to flourish after the fall of Mayapan. There was little evidence of any conflict between these regions before Spanish rule. This indicates “a sustainable system of human adaptation to the environment.”

What does it give us?

Human responses to environmental pressures such as drought are clearly complex and region- and period-specific. There are many factors that need to be weighed and balanced as to why the population of the time behaved one way and not another.

This study not only gives us useful information about the history of this ancient people, but also It serves as a warning about how climate change can quickly put pressure on even the most established and prosperous civilizations.

“Archaeological and historical records are well suited to examining the past social consequences of climate crises over long-term cycles. The Maya region offers the breadth and depth of archaeological, historical and climate records needed to study the relationships between social change and climate change as climatic conditions change.”– conclude the authors of the study.