New Clues About Maya Civilization Collapse Emerge, Researchers Discover

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A team of archeologist and researchers from the University of Arizona, studied the ruins in Guatemala. They collected and radiocarbon dated some ancient artifacts and found very significant periods that explains the desolation of Maya civilization.

From the article in History, the result of the chronological data from a record-setting 154 radiocarbon dates tells a highly precise chronological finding that illustrates the patterns of the two collapses Maya civilization experienced. These very significant periods are called the Preclassic collapse happened in the second century A.D. and the well-known, Classic collapse some seven centuries later.

Back in the sixth century A.D., Maya civilization reached their peak. They have made many advances in agriculture, mathematics, calendar making, magnificent stone cities and many other great things. However, in the year 900 A.D. great stone cities were mostly abandoned. Overpopulation, war between competing city states, extreme environmental event and a combination of these events leads researchers to form a theory about what caused the Classic Maya collapse.

According to Foxnews Science, the team used the information from the Ceibal site through a highly-controlled excavation of the ancient ruins. This allows researchers to refine the information and trace changing population size together with the increase and decrease in construction.

Based on the new data gathered, it suggests a more complex pattern of political crises and recoveries leading up to each collapse. This events were used to theorize by the researchers to explain the disappearance of the Maya civilization many years ago.

In line with this, archeologist Takeshi Inomata, the lead author of the study and professor of the University of Arizona, said, "It's not just a simple collapse, but there are waves of collapse. First there are smaller waves, tied to a warfare and some political instability, then comes the major collapse, in which many centers get abandoned. Then there was recovery in some places, then another collapse."

Understanding this periods may potentially serve as a template for other people to try to see if they have similar pattern at their sites in the same area. It will also help other scientists to find more evidence dating to the glorious past of this ancient civilization.

Inomata and his team published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Also, the project was in collaboration with the researchers from Arizona and Ibaraki University, Naruto University of Education and Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan and Gautemalan Archeologist and students as well. The Carbon dating was done in Japan's Paleo Laboratory Company and the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Library at the University of Arizona.