Mexican Cave Stalagmites Suggest Droughts Helped Fuel Maya Collapse

Archaeology Magazine ^ | August 18, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists have long debated why Maya communities in the Southern Lowlands suffered a period of widespread sociopolitical upheaval between a.d. 800 and 1000. During what is known as the Terminal Classic Period, dynasties collapsed, urban centers were abandoned, and populations dwindled, bringing an end to the Classic Maya civilization. According to a statement released by the University of Cambridge, potential new clues to the causes of this phenomenon have recently been identified in the Grutas Tzabnah cave in Mexico's Yucatán. Researchers analyzed oxygen isotopes in cave stalagmites that provided information about specific rainfall amounts during both the wet and dry seasons from a.d. 871 to 1021. The data revealed that there were eight wet season droughts during that timeframe, all of them lasting at least three years. The team even found evidence of one catastrophic drought that lasted 13 years. Even though the Maya had sophisticated water management systems, a drought that long would have had a profound effect on the existing sociopolitical structure. "There have been multiple theories as to what caused the collapse, such as changing trade routes, war, or severe drought, based on the archaeological evidence the Maya left behind," said Cambridge researcher Daniel H. James. "But in the past few decades, we've started to learn quite a lot about what happened to the Maya and why, by combining the archaeological data with quantifiable climate evidence." Read the original scholarly article about this research in Science Advances. To read about evidence of warfare between Maya states, go to "Maya Total War."

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: 0871ad; 1000ad; 800ad; 871ad; ad1000; ad800; classicperiod; climate; drought; godsgravesglyphs; maya; mayans; mexico; stalagmites; weather; yucatan

[SunkenCiv]

Researcher Daniel H. James installs a drip rate monitor on a flowstone in Grutas Tzabnah as part of the wider cave monitoring campaign.

Sebastian Breitenbach

[SunkenCiv]

Earlier on FR: New Research Suggests Maya Population May Have Topped 16 Million

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of the stalactite/s and stalagmite/s keywords, sorted:

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• Deep Underground Lies the World's Largest Musical Instrument [02/16/2024]
• Study finds Australian caves are up to 500,000 years older than we thought, and it could explain a megafauna mystery [09/27/2022]
• Droughts in the sixth century paved the way for Islam [06/19/2022]
• Cave stalagmites show that flooding destroyed Liangzhu City: How an ancient Chinese culture met its end [12/12/2021]
• 4,300 Years of Bat Poop From The Depths of a Jamaican Cave Have Revealed Earth's Past [04/14/2021]
• A Shocking Find in a Neanderthal Cave in France ( inhabited 176,000 years ago ) [09/29/2020]
• Remote cave study reveals 3000 years of European climate variation [06/19/2015]
• First evidence of comet striking Earth found in Egypt [10/10/2013]
• Comet May Have Collided With Earth 13,000 Years Ago(MEXICO) [07/15/2012]
• The Intriguing Problem Of The Younger Dryas -- What Does It Mean And What Caused It? [06/21/2012]
• Huge Ancient Civilization's Collapse Explained [05/29/2012]
• Ancient Egypt was destroyed by drought, discover Scottish experts [08/04/2011]
• Asteroid Strikes Colombia -- American Media Buries It! [09/07/2010]
• Stalagmite reveals carbon footprint of early Native Americans [04/15/2010]
• Hour-long hailstorm may have caused 1,000-year freeze, say scientists [04/02/2010]
• Climate, Culture, and Catastrophe in the Ancient World [02/27/2010]
• Ancient Drought And Rapid Cooling Drastically Altered Climate [06/24/2009]
• Clay tablet holds clue to asteroid mystery [03/30/2008]
• Mega-Tsunami Theory Disputed (Australia) [02/03/2008]
• Remote Lake May Be Treasure Trove of Climate Data [12/15/2007]
• Cave records provide clues to climate change [09/26/2007]
• Asteroid Breakup May Have Doomed Dinosaurs [09/05/2007]
• Comets And Disaster In The Bronze Age [04/30/2007]
• BIG BANG IN ANTARCTICA -- KILLER CRATER FOUND UNDER ICE [06/01/2006]
• Huge Crater Found in Egypt - Kebira [03/03/2006]
• Roman Comet 5,000 Times More Powerful Than A-Bomb [10/17/2004]
• Ancient Rome's fish pens confirm sea-level fears [08/16/2004]
• Mesopotamian Climate Change (8,000 Years Ago) [02/15/2004]
• Climate Cycles in China as Revealed by a Stalagmite from Buddha Cave(Journal Review) [07/08/2003]
• The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined? [06/08/2003]
• The Search for the Missing Amazon Meteor [09/27/2002]
• Disaster That Struck The Ancients [12/08/2001]
• Slam, bang, thanks Saddam: new meteor theory [11/05/2001]

[from occupied ga]

Did they find where the Mayans parked their SUVs that caused the droughts?

[yesthatjallen]

I believe this is already known.

[rfp1234]

Hogan’s Heroes also suffered from Stalag Mite infections.

[sauropod]

Interesting.

[trebb]

Dang that climate change stuff....

[Red Badger]

What caused the droughts?.................

[bert]

A change in the weather

[bert]

A change in the weather

[Red Badger]

Lack of rain...............

[montag813]

Their own fault for not watching their carbon footprints.

[SunkenCiv]

The 100 percent natural climate change that is always at work here on Earth.

[SunkenCiv]

I blame Lebeau.

[Billthedrill]

What caused the droughts?

They ran out of virgins to sacrifice. That's why it's so dry in California.

[Red Badger]

If it happened once, it will happen again..................