The latest international research: the political collapse and abandonment of Mayan cities or abandoned or due to drought climate

The latest archaeological paper published by Spelinger's academic journal "Nature-Communication" believes that drought may lead to an increase in internal conflicts in Maya Matsuma, and then political collapse and urban abandonment occurred. As a city of Maya on the 13-14 century on the Utatan Peninsula, this study by Maya Pan found the impact of climate on the stability of the ancient society.

The paper introduces that in Central America in the former Columbus period, the impact of rainfall on food production may be closely related to the migration of human beings, the decline in population, and the changes of the government. However, it may also bring examples of recovery, transformation and sustainability when facing climate pressure. The political capital Maya Pan continued from 1200-1450 AD, which was particularly suitable for the impact of the climate on its domestic conflict, because there were records of the city in the literature of the colonial period.

The paper joint author, Douglas Kennett at the University of California, and David Hodell, the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. They studied the violent incident recorded in historical documents and investigated the survey of Maya Panpan Pan Signs of trauma in human remains, and then compared these instances with indicators of the arid environment. They found that the increase in rainfall is related to the growth of Maya Pan, but the decrease in subsequent rainfall is related to conflict. Their research believes that the long drought in 1400-1450 AD exacerbated the social tensions that existed at that time and eventually led to the abandonment of the city.

The author said that with the collapse of Maya Pan, residents migrated to other smaller and abundant towns. These adaptive activities provided regional scale recovery, allowing Mayan's political and economic structure to continue to the 16th century AD. They concluded that the response of human beings on the Eukatan Peninsula is complicated, which can be used as an important example of people's response to future climate change.

Source: China News Network

- END -