- THE ancient Mayans, a fervently religious people who
believed that their destiny was predetermined by the heavens, may have
been doomed by a 200-year cycle in the brightness of the Sun.
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- Scientists have found a link between a long-term solar
pattern and a series of devastating droughts that buffeted Mayan cities
and farms and led to the collapse of the civilisation in the ninth century.
The Mayans were talented astronomers who designed their jungle pyramids
and palaces in the Yucatan peninsular in present day Mexico to reflect
the movement of the Sun, Moon and Venus. They were also keen calendar-makers
who kept time with several cycles that incorporated the movements in the
heavens.
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- A new study of lake sediments in the area suggests that
they were particularly vulnerable to changes in the intensity of the Sun's
rays. Dr David Hodell, of the University of Florida, who reports the findings
today in Science, said changes in the Sun's energy output had a direct
effect on the climate of the Yucatan causing the recurrence of drought,
which influenced the Maya evolution.
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- He has previously argued that the collapse of the Mayan
civilisation was influenced by a severe drought that lasted more than 150
years. The new findings come from a study of cores removed from the bottom
of Lake Chichancanab in central America. The team found distinct layers
of gypsum in the cores, formed when the lakes dried out during droughts.
The layers appeared every 208 years.
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- The cycle is almost identical to a 206-year natural cycle
in solar intensity, said Dr Hodell. His team found that the droughts took
place during the most intense part of the cycle. The driest years also
occurred at times when the Mayan culture was going through downturns, abandoning
cities or slowing down the amount of building and carving. He said: "It
is ironic that a culture so obsessed with keeping track of celestial movements
may have met their demise because of a 206-year cycle."
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- Ancient Mayan culture began around AD300 and flourished
until around AD800 when the great cities in the south of the civilisation
collapsed. Mayan culture continued in the north until the Spanish conquest
of the 16th century. _____
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- Drought Caused By Solar Cycle May Have Doomed
Mayans
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- By Will Dunham 5-18-1
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- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ancient Maya people were obsessed
with the sun, moon and planets -- and perhaps for good reason.
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- The Yucatan peninsula, home to the Maya civilization
during the first millennium A.D., was victimized by recurrent droughts
linked to cyclical variations in the sun's energy output, researchers on
Thursday said. The worst of the droughts appears to have been instrumental
in the collapse of the civilization at around A.D. 900, the researchers
added.
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- Archeologists long have debated what snuffed out such
a vibrant and durable civilization.
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- The Maya were among the great ancient civilizations of
Mesoamerica, building cities with elaborate ceremonial centers and soaring
stone pyramids such as Tikal in Guatemala, Palenque in Mexico and Copan
in Honduras. The classic period in Maya civilization (starting around A.D.
300) pre-dated by hundreds of years the rise of the Aztecs in Mexico and
the Incas in Peru.
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- A team led by University of Florida geologist David Hodell
analyzed sediment from beneath Lake Chichancanab in Mexico to establish
a record of changes in climate in a region already predisposed to be hit
hard by drought, much like sub-Saharan Africa. The team dug a 6-1/4-foot
core sample of lake sediment by driving a hollow tube into the lake bottom.
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- The researchers found layers of gypsum (calcium sulfate)
concentrated at certain levels in the cores. When rainfall decreased, evaporation
from the lake concentrated salts in the lake water and left behind bands
of gypsum on the bottom, providing an enduring testimony to the periods
of drought.
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- The recurrence of drought was remarkably cyclical, the
researchers noted, occurring every 208 years. That interval was nearly
identical to the previously known oscillation in which the sun is at its
most intense every 206 years.
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- AN IRONIC END
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- The Maya were skilled astronomers, religiously tracking
the movement of heavenly bodies.
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- ``I do think it was ironic that considering this culture
really placed so much emphasis on tracking the movements of the sun and
the moon and some of the planets, particularly Venus, that they may have
met their ultimate demise due to a 208-year solar cycle,'' Hodell said
in an interview.
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- He added, ``There's no evidence that I know of that the
Maya were cognizant of this long-term cycle.''
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- The timing of the droughts matched periodic downturns
in the Maya culture, as demonstrated by abandonment of cities or diminished
stone carving and building activity, he said.
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- Hodell found that the worst drought in the region in
7,000 years took place from about A.D. 750 to A.D. 850, coinciding with
the civilization's slip toward oblivion.
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- He said it is hard to believe this was mere coincidence,
adding the drought may have triggered a cascade of events.
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- The population centers had become densely packed with
people, almost to the breaking point, making agricultural production crucial
in order to keep everyone fed, he said.
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- ``A CHAIN REACTION''
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- ``When drought hit, then it may have started a chain
reaction -- you have crop failure, which leads to malnutrition, increased
disease, increased competition for resources, which would have caused increased
warfare between city states, and sociopolitical upheaval,'' Hodell added.
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- The study, appearing in the journal Science, built on
work by Hodell in 1995 that found evidence of the big drought, but offered
no mechanism to explain it.
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- Some archeologists seem willing to accept that climate
played a role in the collapse, but are divided over the size of the role.
Others note that the civilization's demise actually began in the wetter
southern highlands of Guatemala before reaching the more arid northern
Yucatan lowlands.
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- ``The biggest problem is why, in a drought, does the
dry area last longer than the wet area,'' archeologist Matt O'Mansky of
Vanderbilt University said in an article accompanying the study in Science.
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