Scientists from the University of Cambridge and the University of Florida have discovered than an enormous drought that swept across Mexico 1,000 years ago triggered the demise of one the world’s great ancient civilisations – the #Maya.

The downfall of such a mighty #AncientCivilisation has been the source of much debate and the idea that drought was responsible has been mooted for years, but researchers have discovered that annual rainfall decreased between 41% and 54%, with periods of up to 70% at the time the region’s city states were abandoned.

During the 9th century however, there was a major political collapse in the central Maya region: their famous limestone cities were abandoned and dynasties ended. The Maya people did survive beyond this time, but by the time the first Europeans encountered them, their power was considerably depleted.

Watch the video to learn more about this news story and downloaded the paper from: [ Ссылка ]

Source:
Nicholas P. Evans et al. ‘Quantification of Drought During the Collapse of the Classic Maya Civilization.’ Science (2018). DOI: 10.1126/science.aas9871

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