Nature Communications research shows drought caused civil unrest and political collapse in Mayapan, the Maya capital in the Yucatán Peninsula in the 13th and 14th centuries CE.

The results show that climate had an effect on the stability of ancient societies.

The effects of rainfall levels on food production in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica may have been strongly linked with human migration, population decline, warfare, and transitions in political power.

In the face of climate challenges, it might also have resulted in instances of resiliency, change, and sustainability.

The political capital of Mayapan, which existed from 1200 to 1450 CE, is a great place to study how climate affects civil conflict because there are written accounts of the city from the Colonial Period.

Douglas Kennett and colleagues searched historical archives for evidence of violence and looked for indicators of trauma in Mayapanese human remains.

The authors then made a comparison between these occurrences and signs of a drought.

They discovered that higher levels of rainfall were linked to higher levels of population growth in Mayapan, but that lower levels of rainfall were linked to increased levels of violence.

The prolonged drought between 1400 and 1450 CE, according to the authors, exacerbated communal tensions and ultimately led to the city’s evacuation.

The authors say that when Mayapan fell apart, the people who lived there moved to other, smaller towns that were doing well. They say that these changes made the region more resilient and helped Maya’s political and economic structures last until the 16th century CE.

They come to the conclusion that the Yucatán Peninsula’s human responses to the drought were complicated and serve as a crucial model as we negotiate the effects of climate change in the future.

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