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PALO ALTO, U.S.A., December 17, 2001: New research by Stanford University scientists in Palo Alto, California, has revealed that earthquakes were the likely cause for the mysterious disappearance of ancient civilizations like the Harappan in India and the Mayan in Central America. The Harappan civilization disappeared in 1900 BCE, after almost 2,000 years of continuous existence. Most researchers could not explain how a city that bustled with activity one day could be buried under several feet of silt the next? Or how rows of heavy stone columns were all toppled in the same direction? Until recently, they blamed it on fires or flash floods. New research, conducted by Manika Prasad and Amos Nur at Stanford University, blames earthquakes. In 1819, a similar earthquake raised an 80 to 100-kilometer ridge of earth about 20 feet, creating an artificial dam. The evidence of seismic activity in the region, combined with the recent discovery of the ancient Saraswati riverbed at the center of the former Harappan region, offers a possible explanation for the civilization’s decline.



The cities of Quirigua and Benque Viejo (Xunantunich), now located in Guatemala and Belize, were suddenly abandoned when the Mayan Classic Period ended in the late 9th century CE. Research conducted by Robert Kovach, Professor of Geophysics at Stanford, show that the cities could have been destroyed by a single earthquake centered on the Chixoy-Polochic and Motagua fault zones.

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