Find out why the Mayan civilization collapsed

Experts discovered that it was the prolonged drought that caused Maya civilization to decline.

The collapse of ancient Mayan civilization has always been the subject of many scientists. The team of experts at Rice University and Louisiana State University said they had come closer to the solution of this mystery thanks to the evidence gathered at the Great Blue sinkhole.

The Great Blue Hole is an underwater submarine, about 70km from Belize coast and located near the center of the coral island of Lighthouse. The hole is 124m deep, about 300m wide in diameter, formed as a limestone cave system in the last years of the ice age. From the depth of 30 - 33m, the formation of limestone here is becoming more and more complicated.

Great Blue Hole

With the analysis of the sediment samples collected at Great Blue, in particular, to understand the color, size and thickness of the rock layer and compare it with the rock samples in the area attached to the mainland, experts. The difference in titanium to aluminum has been discovered. This helps researchers to estimate rainfall in this area.

Further analysis, experts found that low rainfall caused a major drought in the period of 1000 - 1100, causing the collapse of the ancient Mayan city - Chichen Itza.

Because of the decreasing rainfall and the drier weather (around 660), the resources became exhausted, the political unrest appeared and the war broke out, the Maya empire gradually declined.

And after years of struggling with difficulties, the drought that lasted for nearly a century (from 1000 to 1100) put an end to the ancient Mayan civilization.

Dr. André Droxler, the study author, said: "When a major drought occurs, it will lead to many consequences such as hunger or unrest. This finding has helped us better understand the change. How climate change affects the collapse of Maya civilization ".