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How weather brought down Mayan empire Robin McKie, science editor Sunday January 12, 2003 The Observer Climate change is inevitable, unpredictable, and has been responsible for bringing down some of the world's greatest civilisations. Soon it may do the same to ours. That is the conclusion of researchers who have found that the Mayans - whose empire reached its peak around 700AD - were destroyed because central America was afflicted by a 200-year drought. The discovery has been made by the American archaeologist Richardson Gill, who argues that the Mayans - famed for their massive stepped pyramids and astronomy -...

Professor says Mayan calendar does not portend Earth’s doom By Steve Reeves January 01, 2003 TUSCALOOSA | Does our planet have only a scant 10 more years of existence left? Some people believe the ancient Mayan calendar suggests the end of the world will come on Dec. 21, 2012. But University of Alabama professor Enrique Gomez is not among them. “The world won’t end in 2012," laughed Gomez, who teaches in UA’s astronomy and physics department. “I can assure you of that." Gomez, a native of Mexico City, said he is much more interested in Mayan culture and how the...