WERE THERE EARTHQUAKES IN THE MAYA EMPIRE?

Yes. Reasons for the collapse of the Maya empire are typically assigned to armies or conquests, missionizing movements and conversions, social and political decay or agricultural disintegration. Earthquakes as a cause of the demise of many Maya centers is not universally accepted. Yet the proximity of many Maya locations to the Chixoy-Polochic and Motagua fault systems, the landward extension of the Caribbean plate boundary and the spatial distribution of current seismicity would argue otherwise.

Earthquake damage was experienced during archaeological expeditions to Copan, Honduras, in 1935. Damage to stelae and buildings were witnessed at Quirigua, Guatemala, during an expedition underway when the 1976 M = 7.5 Guatemala earthquake struck. Excavations revealed evidence for earlier earthquake damage around the time of the demise and abandonment of Quirigua in the mid-9th century. Striking evidence for sudden earthquake building collapse at the end of the Mayan Classic Period ~ A.D. 830 was found at the ruins of Benque Viejo (Xunantunich), Belize, located 210 km north of Quirigua.

In addition, stelae, at the Maya sites of Copan, Seibal, Altar de Sacrificios and Xutilha were found fallen or tilted in preferential directions. For example, 83% of the stelae found fallen at Seibal, Guatemala, were lying in an east or west direction. Horizontal ground accelerations of 13 - 15%g, typical of a Modified Mercalli Intensity value of VII are sufficient to tilt and topple stelae, monuments and gravestones.

It is not unlikely that a M = 7.5 to 7.9 earthquake at the end of the Maya Classic Period centered in the vicinity of the Polochic-Motagua fault zones could have contributed contemporaneous earthquake damage to the above sites contributing to their final abandonment.