The collapse of the Maya is a topic of perpetual fascination. Now, a study modelling the development of their civilization finds that collapse was driven by land degradation, rather than precipitation change.
References
Volney, C. F. The Ruins; or Meditations on the Revolution of Empires (Calvin Blanchard, New York, NY, 1793).
Roman, S. et al. Ecol. Econ. 146, 312–324 (2018).
Chase, A. F. et al. in The Resilience and Vulnerability of Ancient Landscapes: Transforming Maya Archaeology Through IHOPE (eds Chase, A. F. & Scarborough, V. L.) 11–29 (American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC, 2014).
Webster, D. Middle American Research Institute Publication 44 (Middle American Research Institute, New Orleans, LA, 1976).
Gill, R. B. The Great Maya Droughts (Univ. New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, 2000).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tainter, J. Modelling the mysterious Maya. Nat Sustain 1, 79–80 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0025-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0025-0
- Springer Nature Limited