Earthquakes have ended the ancient civilizations?

Terrifying earthquakes can cause the collapse of many civilizations in human history, from ancient Tokyo to modern-day Maya to Central America. This hypothesis was just released by scientists yesterday, at the meeting of the American Geophysical Association.

Amos Nur, professor of physics at Stanford University, said: ' We believe that natural disasters, especially earthquakes, have played an important role in the mysterious disappearance of many civilizations. '.

Before that, the hypotheses revolved around a mysterious pirate group called ' Sea People '. They must have swept through this area, plundering and destroying big cities.

Nur developed a completely different hypothesis. When studying the eastern Mediterranean region at the end of the Bronze Age, he argued that a major earthquake could be the main culprit behind the disappearance of many cities such as Tokyo, Mycenae and Knossos. These cities were swept away from the world map between 1225 and 1175 BC.

Maya also has the same fate?

Ancient Harappan trace

Other scientists of the American Geophysical Association have taken this hypothesis further. They argue that the historic earthquakes could destroy other civilizations, from Harappan of the Indian River valley (India), to Maya in Central America.

Harappan civilization, after 2000 years of prosperity in the Indian River, suddenly disappeared around 1900 BC. The world attributed this mysterious disappearance to countless possible causes, from changing the way of trading, to the Aryan invaders from the north.

However, Nur and his colleague Prasad, when considering seismic history, have noticed catastrophic earthquakes falling on the coastal areas near the border between India and Pakistan. According to their hypothesis, one or more major shocks may have moved the earth's crust, leading to blocking the flow of a large river in the region. Agricultural production was destroyed, serious floods occurred and eventually buried cities under mud.

A similar situation may have occurred with the Mayan civilization in Central America: the two cities of Quirigua (present-day East Guatemala) and Benque Viejo, which were the Mayan cultural centers during the peak period, suddenly disappeared in the late 9th century AD. According to geophysicist Robert Kovach, perhaps an earthquake has flattened both cities.

The difficulty here is to accurately locate geological faults that have destroyed civilizations in history. Time has healed the earth's crust and erased many vestiges. But Nur believes that with modern seismic devices, combined with human history, they will eventually prove what earthquakes have caused many civilizations.

BH ( according to Reuters )