Paleochemists have discovered that the Maya’s intensive use of red pigments containing mercury compounds led to their rapid accumulation in the water and environment, exacerbating the environmental situation in the region.
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The scientific journal Science Advances indicates that, according to scientists, this may be one of the reasons for the collapse of this civilization.
This conclusion was reached by a team of paleochemists from the United States, Mexico, and Britain, led by Matthew Waters, an associate professor at Auburn University, while studying environmental conditions in the lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula, where many Mayan cities flourished during the Classic Period (250-950 CE). However, the reasons for their collapse remain unknown. Therefore, scientists are working to uncover these reasons.
Scientists say, "We studied sediment samples from the bottom of two reservoirs in the Yucatán Peninsula during the Classic Period of the Maya civilization and found that mercury levels in them exceeded the maximum permissible limits in modern reservoirs by several orders of magnitude over centuries. This accumulation of mercury coincided with the collapse of aquatic ecosystems, suggesting a significant role for this metal in the demise of the Maya civilization."
The scientists were also struck by the presence of very high quantities of mercury pigments, cinnabar, and metallic mercury in Maya burial sites from that period, as well as in various other Classic Period locations. High concentrations of mercury compounds were also recorded in the soil of some Maya cities, leading scientists to believe that mercury consumption may have negatively impacted the health of the Maya people and local ecosystems.
Based on this idea, researchers collected samples from the bottoms of Lakes Copa and Ixcanchi, located near major Classic Mayan settlements that formed over thousands of years. They stratified the samples to determine their ages and measured the proportions of mercury compounds in the different layers formed during different time periods. Similar measurements were taken from two other lakes located further away from the Mayan cities.
They discovered that the sedimentary layers formed at the bottom of Lakes Cuba and Excanchi during the Classical period contained record levels of mercury, reaching in some cases 18 micrograms per gram—several orders of magnitude higher than the maximum permissible concentration of mercury in drinking water. Furthermore, the rate of mercury accumulation during these periods was dozens of times higher than in other historical periods.
The increased mercury concentration in both lakes was accompanied by a sharp decrease in the activity of cyanobacteria and algae, as well as the disappearance of many crustacean and mollusk species, indicating the significant negative impact of mercury pollution on local ecosystems.
According to the research team, this suggests that mercury pollution was a contributing factor in the collapse of the Classic Mayan civilization.
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