@article{6c8784b4861d4df59eefa46c83fbc8a2,
title = "Drought-Induced Civil Conflict Among the Ancient Maya",
abstract = "The influence of climate change on civil conflict and societal instability in the premodern world is a subject of much debate, in part because of the limited temporal or disciplinary scope of case studies. We present a transdisciplinary case study that combines archeological, historical, and paleoclimate datasets to explore the dynamic, shifting relationships among climate change, civil conflict, and political collapse at Mayapan, the largest Postclassic Maya capital of the Yucat{\'a}n Peninsula in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries CE. Multiple data sources indicate that civil conflict increased significantly and generalized linear modeling correlates strife in the city with drought conditions between 1400 and 1450 cal. CE. We argue that prolonged drought escalated rival factional tensions, but subsequent adaptations reveal regional-scale resiliency, ensuring that Maya political and economic structures endured until European contact in the early sixteenth century CE.",
keywords = "Acclimatization, Archaeology, Climate Change, Droughts",
author = "Kennett, {Douglas J.} and Marilyn Masson and Lope, {Carlos Peraza} and Stanley Serafin and George, {Richard J.} and Spencer, {Tom C.} and Hoggarth, {Julie A.} and Culleton, {Brendan J.} and Harper, {Thomas K.} and Prufer, {Keith M.} and Susan Milbrath and Russell, {Bradley W.} and Gonz{\'a}lez, {Eunice Uc} and McCool, {Weston C.} and Aquino, {Valorie V.} and Paris, {Elizabeth H.} and Curtis, {Jason H.} and Norbert Marwan and Mingua Zhang and Yemane Asmerom and Polyak, {Victor J.} and Carolin, {Stacy A.} and James, {Daniel H.} and Mason, {Andrew J.} and Henderson, {Gideon M.} and Mark Brenner and Baldini, {James U. L.} and Breitenbach, {Sebastian F. M.} and Hodell, {David A.}",
note = "Funding information: financially supported by grants from Central Queensland University (S.S.; New Staff Research Grant), Middle American Research Institute of Tulane University (S.S.), and Sigma Xi (S.S.). Interdisciplinary research supported by the NSF (BCS-0940744, D.J.K) and general lab support for radiocarbon work supported by the NSF Archaeometry program (BCS-1460369, D.J.K. & B.J.K.), The Pennsylvania State University (PSU; D.J.K.), and the University of California, Santa Barbara D.J.K). ",
year = "2022",
month = jul,
day = "19",
doi = "10.1038/s41467-022-31522-x",
language = "English",
volume = "13",
journal = "Nature Communications",
issn = "2041-1723",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "1",
}
