The fall of the Maya civilization was bloody and worsened by a 200-year drought

During the fall of the Maya civilization over 1,000 years ago, kings were killed in public, captives were taken hostage, and in one notably violent event in the city of Aguateca, Maya fled their homes during a surprise assault, without time to even grab their belongings.

Though warfare can't be ignored, the toppling of the classic Maya civilization — renown for its massive stone temples and astronomical observatories — is believed to have another formidable culprit: crippling drought. And for the first time, scientists have deduced just how severe this centuries-long drought may have been.

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More about Science, Drought, Climate Change, Archaeology, and Anthropology

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