Tested the cocoliztli epidemics against the Mexican Drought Atlas
Found the epidemic list (Acuna-Soto 2004) and the 600-year Mexican Drought Atlas. No drought in the year before; epidemic years were wet in central Mexico, and the 16th-century megadrought was a northern event. A second central record (Puebla maize) agrees about the wet 1570s but not the 1540s.
How it connects
This step led us to
Puebla maize record: good harvests in the 1570s, poor in the 1540s, no signal in epidemic years
This step led us to
Drought atlas: cocoliztli years were wet in central Mexico; the 16th-century megadrought was northern
This step led us to
Cocoliztli broke out in central Mexico after drought (within two years)
This step led us to
Cocoliztli broke out in wet years in central Mexico
This step is about
What caused the cocoliztli epidemics that killed most of Mexico's people (1545, 1576 and later)?
This step and then
Added the Queretaro bald cypress as a third central-Mexico record
This step came after
Added Scotland as a third country for sleepy sickness vs flu