Political Strife Caused By Climate Change Doomed the Mayans

Political Strife Caused By Climate Change Doomed the Mayans

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Debilitating drought may have been a major factor in the fractious politics that ended the Maya civilization, according to archaeologists. Maya culture thrived in wet seasons and fell apart when the rains ceased. “It’s an example of a sophisticated civilization failing to adapt successfully to climate change,” said James Baldini, a professor at Durham University in the UK.

This claim is the result of new 2,000-year-old climate records from caves, a “war index” consisting of certain keywords in Mayan rock inscriptions, and archaeological data.