Ancient DNA reveals how Mayan civilisation collapsed
Skeletons unearthed from the ruins of the ancient city of Copán in Honduras have yielded clues to the collapse of the Mayan civilisation.
Copán, now a Unesco World Heritage site, thrived during the Classic Maya period between the third and 10th centuries AD.
Previous research has shown that it was a major crossroads city for four centuries, connecting the lower Central America to South America.
'In 426 or 427CE, the city witnessed the establishment of a royal dynasty, which endured for about 400 years,' according to a new study published in the journal Current Biology.
Excavations at the ruins have so far focused on a royal tomb where rulers were likely buried along with sacrificial victims. But the genetic origins of the people of ancient Copán have been unclear.
The new genome study shows where this population most likely came from and reveals the city 'dramatically shrank' around 1,200 years ago.
Researchers assessed genomes of seven human remains excavated at the Copán archaeological site, including a person who may have been the ancient city's ruler.
The analysis also included DNA data from ancient Mayan sites in North, Central, and South America that have already been published in previous studies.
It revealed, for the first time, the origins and dynamics of the ancient city's population during the Classic period, shedding more light on the civilisation's collapse.
It found that the ancestral population of the Copan people interacted with northern regions, including those in Mexico and Belize. That the Maya people had connections with those in the central highlands of Mexico had only been theorised in the past.
The analysis also pointed to a strong genomic connection of the people of the Copán ruins with modern Maya, including the contemporary populations in the Andes, Brazil, and Argentina.
Another key finding from the study is that the population size of the Maya civilisation decreased vastly during the late Classic period.
This result corresponds to the period when other Classic Maya cities were also abandoned, researchers said. 'A decline is also observable in the Andes at around the same time. Nevertheless, the population size in the Andes rebounded in later periods, possibly linked to the rise and expansion of the Inca civilisation,' they said.
A decline in the population density led to the eventual collapse of the Classic Maya civilisation, they concluded.
This was between the 9th and 11th centuries, a period marked by frequent severe droughts that contributed to civil conflict, societal instability, and eventual collapse.
'Estimates of effective population size suggest a decline at the end of the Classic period, when Classic Maya civilisation experienced widespread destabilisation and collapse,' the study noted.
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