The Mayans were one of the Central American civilizations that left the most legacy in their areas of influence. The study of this culture has always aroused great interest among researchers and historians specializing in the matter. Now, scientists from McGill University in Canada have just carried out an interesting investigation to find out when the collapse of Central American civilization occurred.
In this study, which has been published in the journal Science Alert, the researchers are able to identify four periods of civilization size change related to dry and wet periods, which have never been analyzed before. The periods are:
– between 1350 and 950 BC
– between 400 and 210 BC
– between 90 and 280 AD
– between 730 and 900 AD
These changes have been studied through the change in human feces in each period related to a significant climate change in each period.
In addition, many of these flattened feces have shown that the famous city of Itzán, one of the hearts of the Mayan empire, may have been inhabited some 650 years earlier than previously thought and studies had revealed.
“This research should help archaeologists by providing a new tool to observe changes that might not be seen in the archaeological evidence, because it is possible that the evidence has never existed or that it has since been lost or destroyed” explained one of those responsible of the investigation, Benjamin Keenan.
The stanols
This complex stool analysis is based on the study of what are known as stool stanols. These stanols are human molecules that are perfectly preserved in layers of lake and river sediments, and that can remain intact for thousands of years.
To achieve this new timing of the Mayans, the stanols were taken in a lake near what would have been the city of Itzán and they were measured together with other findings by other experts found in other excavations.
“It is important for society in general to know that there were civilizations before us that were affected and adapted to climate change,” explains another member of the research team, Peter Douglas.
Furthermore, thanks to this type of study, the Canadian team was able to identify a considerable population increase in 1697, when a Spanish attack occurred in one of the last areas occupied by the Mayans.
“Fecal stanols have great potential to serve as surrogates for changes in human and animal populations in Mesoamerican landscapes , while providing information on land use change,” the study experts conclude.
