The Mayans built spectacular monuments for centuries – and then suddenly stopped. Why? Getty
Up to around 750 AD, the Mayan civilisation was thriving. Dozens of new monuments were being built every year in what is now Mexico and central America. But by 900 monument building ceased altogether and some cities in the southern lowlands were abandoned. What happened?
One idea is that a prolonged drought was to blame, and now we have the best evidence yet that this was the case. Analysis of “fossil water” has shown that there was half…
