Lack of Hurricanes Didn't Cause the Downfall of the Mayan Civilization

What caused the collapse of the Mayan civilization? It certainly wasn't a lack of hurricanes. Scientists have actually used stalagmites to find out what the weather conditions were like during the collapse of the ancient Mayan civilization.

Previously, scientists thought that a prolonged drop in hurricane activity from about 800 to 950 AD caused the region where the Mayan civilization was located to experience severe drought. This, in turn, might have helped explained its collapse-except that this isn't what happened.

In order to find out a bit more about the past climate, the researchers ventured into a cave in Mexico. There, they discovered a single, ancient stalagmite that provided clues about weather conditions during the time of the Mayan civilization, according to the Sidney Morning Herald. In fact, the stone formation served as a 2,200-year-old record of climate in the region.

When hurricanes struck the area, the cave flooded and mud poured into it, coating the cave floor and stalagmites. This layer of mud caked on year after year, forming layers that provided scientists with the climate record. Surprisingly, though, the researchers found plenty of layers during the era around the Mayan collapse, according to USA Today.

What does this mean? Contrary to popular belief, it appears that there were plenty of hurricanes during the collapse of the Mayan civilization. This means that the drought that the region experienced wasn't caused by a lack of hurricanes; it also shows that the Mayans not only had to deal with drought, but also with hurricanes.

"They had too much water during the storms and too little the rest of the time," said Amy Benoit Frappier, one of the researchers, in an interview with USA Today.

The findings are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.