(ORDO NEWS) — A decrease in the predictability of seasonal rainfall may have played an important role in the collapse of classical Maya societies around 1,100 years ago.
Scientists from the University of New Mexico, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the University of Potsdam conducted a study that showed that climate change, such as reduced seasonal predictability, can lead to the destabilization of societies.
Keith Proofer, an archaeologist at the University of New Mexico who is one of the authors of the study, says that the current study of climate change can help understand how societies adapt to climate change and what measures they are taking to keep their societies stable.
The study found that seasonal changes could threaten food production in a region where all agriculture is dependent on rainfall, making planting and harvesting much more difficult or impossible to predict from year to year.
Climate change causing instability in seasonal rainfall may have been a factor that contributed to the collapse of the Mayan civilization .
According to Keith Proofer, the decrease in seasonal predictability could potentially destabilize Classic Maya societies, and this could lead to their disintegration.
According to scientists, within perhaps 100 to 150 years, the region’s population of 5 to 10 million people declined by 60-70%, and the full form of government was abandoned.
Studying the fall of ancient societies can help modern societies cope with the challenges posed by climate change.
Given that many regions today are facing climate change, studies such as this could be important to our understanding of how societies can adapt to change and remain resilient.
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