Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization Related to Modest Reduction in Precipitation

@article{MedinaElizalde2012CollapseOC,
  title={Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization Related to Modest Reduction in Precipitation},
  author={Mart{\'i}n Medina‐Elizalde and Eelco J. Rohling},
  journal={Science},
  year={2012},
  volume={335},
  pages={956 - 959}
}
How Dry They Were How much rainfall failure contributed to the disintegration of classical Maya civilization? Medina-Elizalde and Rohling (p. 956) analyzed records from three lakes and a stalagmite from the Yucatán Peninsula to quantify the change in precipitation that the region experienced between 800 to 1000 years A.D. Precipitation decreased episodically for up to a decade at a time and in total by as much as 40% during the 200 years of the civilization's fall, probably as a result of a… 
View on AAAS
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
208 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
7
Background Citations
59
Methods Citations
5
Results Citations
1

208 Citations

Impacts of Climate Change on the Collapse of Lowland Maya Civilization
Paleoclimatologists have discovered abundant evidence that droughts coincided with collapse of the Lowland Classic Maya civilization, and some argue that climate change contributed to societal…
Drought, agricultural adaptation, and sociopolitical collapse in the Maya Lowlands
TLDR
A new analysis of regional drought intensity shows drought was most severe in the region with the strongest societal collapse, suggesting that the ancient Maya adapted to previous episodes of climate drying, but could not cope with the more extreme droughts of the Terminal Classic.
The perfect storm: climate change and ancient Maya response in the Puuc Hills region of Yucatán
Abstract Climatic fluctuation is often cited as a major factor in the collapse of Maya civilisation during the Terminal Classic Period (e.g. Luzzadder-Beach et al. 2016). Evidence of how people dealt…
Pre‐Columbian deforestation as an amplifier of drought in Mesoamerica
Droughts in pre‐Columbian Mesoamerica caused significant societal disruptions during the Late Classic and Post‐Classic Periods. While the primary causes of these droughts are still debated, it has…
Beyond the Mayan Lowlands: impacts of the Terminal Classic Drought in the Caribbean Antilles
Impacts of long term climate change during the collapse of the Akkadian Empire
3800 Years of Quantitative Precipitation Reconstruction from the Northwest Yucatan Peninsula
TLDR
Precipitation over the last 3800 years has been reconstructed using modern pollen calibration and precipitation data via the linear method of partial least squares and it is estimated that precipitation deficits were greater than surpluses, reaching 21% and <9%, respectively.
An assessment of drought on maize cropping success in ancient Maya lowlands during the last half of the first millennium ce
  • Alfred Wong
  • Environmental Science
    Journal of Water and Climate Change
  • 2018
Drought arising from a shift in intertropical convergence zone in the Yucatán peninsula during the last half of the first millennium is often cited as a determining cause in the collapse of ancient…
Classic Period collapse of the Central Maya Lowlands: Insights about human–environment relationships for sustainability
  • B. Turner, J. Sabloff
  • Geography, Political Science
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2012
TLDR
The ninth century collapse and abandonment of the Central Maya Lowlands in the Yucatán peninsular region were the result of complex human–environment interactions and lend insights for the use of paleo- and historical analogs to inform contemporary global environmental change and sustainability.
Synchronous precipitation reduction in the American Tropics associated with Heinrich 2
TLDR
A 3.3 thousand-year long stalagmite δ18O record from the Yucatan Peninsula is presented that suggests significant low latitude hydrological responses to internal modes of climate variability and supports a role of Caribbean hydroclimate in helping Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation recovery during D-O events.
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 39 REFERENCES
Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization
THE Maya civilization developed around 3,000 years ago in Mesoamerica, and after flourishing during the so-called Classic period, it collapsed around 750–900 AD1. It has been specula ted2–6 that…
Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization
TLDR
A seasonally resolved record of titanium shows that the collapse of Maya civilization in the Terminal Classic Period occurred during an extended regional dry period, punctuated by more intense multiyear droughts centered at approximately 810, 860, and 910 A.D.
High resolution stalagmite climate record from the Yucatán Peninsula spanning the Maya terminal classic period
The great Maya droughts : water, life, and death
Between AD 800 and 1000, during what is known as the Classic Maya Collapse, unrelenting drought caused the deaths of millions of Maya people and initiated a cascade of internal collapses that…
A 4000-Year Lacustrine Record of Environmental Change in the Southern Maya Lowlands, Petén, Guatemala
Abstract A 4000-yr sediment core record from Lake Salpetén, Guatemala, provides evidence for Maya-induced forest clearance and consequent soil erosion between ∼1700 cal yr B.C. and 850 cal yr A.D.…
The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, Transition, and Transformation
This book revisits one of the great problems in Mayan archaeology -- the apparent collapse of Classic Maya civilisation from roughly AD830-950. During this period the Maya abandoned their power…
Climate Variability on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) during the Past 3500 Years, and Implications for Maya Cultural Evolution
Climate variability on the Yucatan Peninsula during the past 3500 yrs is reconstructed from the measurement of δ18O in monospecific ostracods and gastropods in a 6.3-m sediment core from Lake Punta…
Physical aspects of Hurricane Hugo in Puerto Rico
TLDR
To compare the magnitudes of the six hurricanes to pass over Puerto Rico since 1899, 3 indices were developed using the standardized values of the product of: the maximum sustained wind speed at San Juan squared and storm duration.
THE NORTHERN MAYA COLLAPSE AND ITS AFTERMATH
Recent adjustments to the chronology of the northern Maya Lowlands have brought about a closer alignment of the decline of Terminal Classic/Early Postclassic Yucatecan polities with the collapse of…
Hydrogeology of the Yucatán Peninsula.
The northern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico is a partially emergent carbonate platform with an extensive continental shelf. Mesozoicand Cenozoic-era limestone, dolomite, and anhydrite overlie deeply…
...
...