The debate is not settled on the causes of the collapse of the Maya civilization. But the veil is lifted on those of the fall of Mayapan, the last great capital of the so-called postclassic period (1200-1450) of the Yucatan peninsula, in southeastern Mexico. About thirty archaeologists, geologists, osteologists or paleoclimatologists took part in a transdisciplinary study which reveals the correlation between climate change and determining political conflicts. Their article, published on July 19 in Naturelooks prophetic for our modern societies.
Its step pyramid still stands 18 meters high. Mayapan, which means “standard of the Maya people”, dominated the south-east of Mexico before its abrupt abandonment, around 1450. Appeared around the year 1100, just after the decline of Chichen Itza, Mayapan extended over 4.2 square kilometers, surrounded by lush vegetation. At the time, the two sister cities devoted a special place to Kukulkan, the feathered serpent. The shadow of his body appears on the walls of their great pyramids, during the equinoxes at Chichen Itza, on the day of the winter solstice at Mayapan.
« The city hosted between 15,000 and 20,000 inhabitants who lived from trade, domestic orchards and the cultivation of corn, which was highly dependent on rainfall.explains to Monde Marilyn Masson, archaeologist at the University of Albany, United States, and co-author of the study. The late fall of the city, shortly before the arrival of the Spanish explorers, makes it an exceptional field of study to examine the impact of the climate on civil conflicts. »
Severe famines and political tensions
The excavations revealed the existence of several mass graves. The last one was found right next to the Kukulkan Temple. The scientific team, made up of American, Australian, English, Canadian and Mexican researchers, dated the bone collagen of the skeletons using carbon 14. The analysis also revealed fatal wounds, confirming that massacres preceded the decline and then the fall of Mayapan.
“We then compared these data with paleoclimatic indicators to identify changes in precipitation and their impact on the environment”, says Marilyn Masson. The researchers based themselves in particular on the sections of a stalagmite discovered inside a cave located under the central square of Mayapan. They thus found that the increase in precipitation, between 1100 and 1340, corresponded to a period of increase in the urban population. Conversely, successive major droughts between 1400 and 1450 coincided with socio-political conflicts. To the point of asserting that the decline and abandonment of Mayapan are linked to this period of soil drying. And Marilyn Masson to explain: “ This prolonged lack of water caused crop losses, leading to severe famines, which escalated political tensions, culminating in massacres between ruling factions. »
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