EnvironmentNorth America
The Maya cities abandoned
The cities empty, but the people do not vanish
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Stalagmite records from the caves show several decades of severe drought in precisely this period. But drought alone does not explain why some cities fell and others held: warfare between the city-states had escalated, soil erosion was extensive, and the king's legitimacy rested on delivering rain. Northern cities such as Chichén Itzá flourished for centuries more.
For children
Within a century the great southern Maya cities were abandoned and the jungle took them back. But the Maya did not vanish — millions speak Mayan languages today. It was the cities and the kingships that collapsed, not the people.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org