Read the following excerpt from a passage about the Maya civilization:
'The breakdown of the Maya civilization in the Terminal Classic period has been increasingly linked by climatologists to a prolonged drought, though the mechanism was complex. A reduction in regional rainfall initially caused a significant decrease in agricultural yields, particularly of maize, the staple crop. This agricultural shortfall quickly led to a severe contraction in the food supply for the densely populated urban centers. As urban populations faced widespread malnutrition, civil unrest fomented, which in turn weakened the political authority of the ruling elites. Sensing the vulnerability of the central administration, rival city-states escalated warfare to secure dwindling resources, a conflict that ultimately resulted in the total abandonment of the major urban centers.'
Based explicitly on the causal chain described in the passage, arrange the following events in the correct chronological sequence from the initial consequence of the drought to the event immediately preceding the abandonment of the urban centers.
- 1A decline in the harvest of staple crops
- 2A contraction of the urban food supply
- 3The emergence of civil unrest among the populace
- 4The diminishing of the ruling elites' political authority
- 5An escalation in military conflicts over resources