Archaeologists have shown that the Mayan civilization was on the verge of extinction twice. The corresponding study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, briefly reported by the University of Arizona (USA).
The crisis of ancient civilization, as scientists have shown, began in the second and ninth centuries AD. The nature and existence of the first turning point that occurred in the pre-classical period of Mayan history was previously largely misunderstood by scientists.
Experts managed to develop a refined model describing the chronology of the ancient civilization. According to scientists, it is based on waves of collapse, the appearance of which is caused by political instability and wars.
Experts came to their conclusions after conducting a high-precision radiocarbon analysis of artifacts found in one of the ancient settlements located in the territory of modern Guatemala.
The ancient Mesoamerican Mayan civilization existed on the territory of modern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras for about 3.5 thousand years until the beginning of the colonial period. Around the end of the 17th century, its last independent city came under the control of the Spaniards.
