The cause of shock that caused the Maya empire to evaporate: Warning about the apocalypse is real

According to Science Alert, the results show a correlation between increased rainfall and increased population in the Mayan settlement on the Yucatan Peninsula. In contrast, there were significant signs of decline in population and quality of life during the years 1400 - 1450 AD, a period closely associated with political collapse.

Cause of empire collapse, simple, fierce: Drought, leading to a chain of severe chain reactions in society.

An abandoned Mayan city

According to Ancient Origins, the results come from a large-scale study by a team of scientists from the US, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Australia, and the UK, led by anthropologist Douglas Kennett from the University of California at Santa Barbara. - America.

The most striking of the research steps are the "damaged" remains of the late empire. These people died with severe injuries on their bodies, showing that their lives were no longer as peaceful as in the past.

Traces on the skeletons through the ages are also a great source of data showing how people in each era ate, how healthy they were.

Taken together, the skeletons indicate that drought was accompanied by an increase in conflict and violence. It seems that war is increasingly common, which is caused by a lack of rainfall leading to severe food insecurity.

"The impact of rainfall on food production can be closely linked to migration, population decline, war, and changes in political power," the authors write in the journal Nature. Nature Communications.

Several previous studies have also established a link between periods of empire decline in relation to periods of unfavorable weather during the Classical period of the Maya civilization.

With the Mayan empire in the years 1400-1450, the population had grown to a huge level, resulting in an equally huge need for all aspects of life, so the knock-on effects of drought reached the point of destruction.

The result was the complete destruction of once-mighty cities that paralleled the collapse of agriculture.

The survivors migrated to smaller towns to weather the climate storm. They never had a chance to return to restore the empire because the Spaniards then conquered the Yucatan region in the 16th century, putting out the last flames.

According to the researchers, this finding also serves as a warning to the world today, where climate change - largely of our own making - and many other factors are leading to food insecurity. real in many places.