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Throughout the course of human history, great civilizations have been built, thrived, and declined. Many of these have been well documented by historians, and later civilizations have been able to track their rise and fall. But some seem to have suddenly disappeared. Some civilizations left clues as to what caused their demise, while the loss of others remains a mystery. Here are some of these puzzling lost civilizations.
The Maya
c. 800
Ygunza/FPG
At its height, the Maya empire extended throughout the Yucatán Peninsula, modern-day Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Mexico, making it one of the most dominant civilizations of its time. The Maya were quite advanced, demonstrating remarkable engineering skills and employing complex mathematics. The civilization appeared unable to sustain itself and experienced a dramatic decline about 900 CE. Archeologists now believe that the Maya were victims of ongoing war coupled with climate change t
Study forecasts northern Chile will lose 50% of its water resources by 2060
Chile is experiencing its worst drought in six decades and it is the country with the greatest water crisis in the entire Western Hemisphere. According to Greenpeace, 76% of Chile s territory is affected by the lack of water. A situation that, according to the conclusions of a study carried out by the University of Chile, will continue to affect the country and become worse in the coming decades.
The study, which was commissioned by the General Water Authority, modeled the hydroclimatic variations between the periods of 1985-2015 and 1955-1985 to determine the projections for the next decades, concluding that the north-central area of the country will suffer a strong reduction of its water reserves between 2030 and 2060, which will lead to the loss of more than 50% of its water.