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c. 800-900/1000 CEPeer-reviewed · 2 sourcesDebated

Drought and Political Failure Empty the Southern Lowland Cities

Between roughly 800 and 900 CE the great Classic cities of the southern Maya lowlands are abandoned, and scholars still argue over exactly why

On the timeline · around c. 800-900/1000 CE · Collapse and the Postclassic NorthLate Classic RivalriesCollapse and the Postclassic NorthDrought and Political Failure Empty the Southern Lowland Cities750 CE800 CE850 CE900 CE950 CE1000105011001150

Quick facts

Timeframe
c. 800-900/1000 CE
Region most affected
Southern Maya lowlands
Proposed causes
Drought, warfare, overpopulation, political failure, debated among scholars

What happened

Beginning around 800 CE and continuing for roughly a century, the great Classic-period cities of the southern Maya lowlands, including Tikal, Calakmul, Copan, and Palenque, stopped erecting dated monuments, and their populations declined sharply and were largely gone by 900 to 1000 CE. A peer-reviewed 2015 PNAS study using hydrogen and carbon isotope analysis of lake sediment cores found more intense drying in the southern lowlands than in the drier north during the Terminal Classic period, which the researchers say is consistent with the south's earlier and more severe collapse, even though most earlier drought evidence had come from the less-affected north. The same study found evidence of an earlier drying period from roughly 200 to 500 CE that pushed Maya farmers from extensive slash-and-burn agriculture toward more water-conservative, intensive maize cultivation, adaptations that the researchers conclude worked for centuries but failed under the more severe droughts of the Terminal Classic. The paper itself states plainly that the causes of the collapse have been vigorously debated among scholars, and other researchers stress that some regions of the lowlands experienced only minor disruption or even continued to flourish while others emptied out entirely.

Why it matters

The collapse ended the political and artistic world that produced Pakal's Palenque, Tikal's rivalry with Calakmul, and Copan's Great Plaza, but it was not a single event with a single cause, and drought, warfare, overpopulation, and political failure all appear as contributing factors in different combinations at different cities. It remains one of the most actively studied and argued-over events in archaeology.

How we know

Evidence comes from multiple independent lines: paleoclimate records from lake sediment and cave deposits, the archaeological record of monument construction stopping and population decline, and the geographic pattern of which cities collapsed early, late, or not at all, which researchers use to argue for and against different causal explanations.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Maya Civilization25 events · How villages in the Guatemalan jungle grew into rival kingdoms with the most advanced writing and astronomy in the pre-Columbian Americas, and why the last free Maya city held out against Spain until 1697View all →
Drought and Political Failure Empty the Southern Lowland Cities · The Maya Civilization · SourcedStory