{"id":36600,"date":"2018-08-09T07:17:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T12:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=36600"},"modified":"2018-08-09T07:17:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T12:17:19","slug":"new-study-on-the-collapse-of-mayan-civilization-should-be-climate-wake-up-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=36600","title":{"rendered":"New study on the collapse of Mayan civilization should be climate wake-up call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New study on the collapse of Mayan civilization should be climate wake-up call<\/a><\/h3>\n

Under Trump’s policies, the megadrought that devastated the Mayans will become the new normal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mayan<\/picture><\/div>
MAYAN CIVILIZATION RUINS, QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO, FEBRUARY 2016. CREDIT: DEAGOSTINI\/GETTY IMAGES<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n
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A new study finds that it was a severe and long-lasting megadrought that destroyed the great Mayan civilization a thousand years ago.<\/p>\n

But the research has ominous relevance for us today since America\u2019s top scientists have warned us that President Trump\u2019s climate policies will make such civilization destroying megadroughts commonplace<\/a> in the coming decades.<\/p>\n

The Mayans had one of the world\u2019s first written languages, used advanced mathematics, measured timed with an accurate calendar, produced durable rubber three millennia ago, and figured out \u201chow to grow corn, beans, squash and cassava in sometimes-inhospitable places<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet after reaching its height in its \u201cClassic\u201d period\u00a0(250 AD \u2013 800 AD), the Mayan empire collapsed<\/a> over the next two hundred years. While many theories have been offered \u2014 including environmental degradation, war, and drought \u2014 researchers from\u00a0Cambridge\u2019s Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research have shown that the collapse \u201ccorrelated with an extended period of extreme drought<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a recent study published in the journal Science<\/em>, \u201cQuantification of drought during the collapse of the classic Maya civilization<\/a>,\u201d the researchers calculated\u00a0for the first time just how bad the drought was.<\/p>\n

From 800 to 1000 AD, they found, \u201cAnnual rainfall must have fallen by around 50% on average and by up to 70% during peak drought conditions.\u201d In addition, \u201crelative humidity dropped by 2% to 7%\u201d compared to today.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe role of climate change in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization<\/a> is somewhat controversial, partly because previous records are limited to qualitative reconstructions, for example whether conditions were wetter or drier,\u201d explained lead author Nick Evans.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study represents a substantial advance as it provides statistically robust estimates of rainfall and humidity levels during the Maya downfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New study on the collapse of Mayan civilization should be climate wake-up call Under Trump’s policies, the megadrought that devastated the Mayans will become the new normal. MAYAN CIVILIZATION RUINS, QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO, FEBRUARY 2016. CREDIT: DEAGOSTINI\/GETTY IMAGES A new study finds that it was a severe and long-lasting megadrought that destroyed the great Mayan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[141,150,220,15783,2691,16192],"class_list":["post-36600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-survival-2","tag-climate-change","tag-collapse","tag-drought","tag-joe-romm","tag-mayan-civilisation","tag-think-progress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36601,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36600\/revisions\/36601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}