Why Did The Mayan Collapse

The video did a very good job at picturizing what our readings taught us. The video, Dawn of The Maya, shows how the people in the Yucatan put fire to their rainforests for more land for building and farming. This correlates with what Jared Diamond and Gugliotta stated. Both of these authors made claims that go further than the documentary how the environment affected the Maya. They talked about how long droughts affected those in the lower part of the Yucatan. All of the readings agree with the video when it comes to how advanced the Maya were. There has yet be one author that I have read that has stated otherwise. The video does make a point to say that the Maya fought bloody wars of conquest across Mexico and Central America. Many of the authors we read would refute that claim. Many believe that the wars the Maya fought were specifically for sacrifices. Sheets put is as a power struggle where there was no winner or loser because it was never ending. The Maya were not a peaceful civilization. They believed, like the Aztecs, that they needed human sacrifice for the sun to move. Unlike the readings, the documentary goes into detail on how excavation works. The video uses a ground penetrating system to see if there are tombs in the ground. The documentary goes into a lot of detail prior to the collapse of the Maya. Most of our readings start at the end while this documentary starts at the height of the Maya civilization. Which is really

The Mayan Civilization collapsed because of Malnutrition. First, people were abandoned by erosion and debris. Mayan farmed an area for up to five years, then they planted nothing there for ten years. Since, their population grew bigger and bigger, they had to overfarmed the hill sides. Naturally, the erosion occurred in the area. Houses were abandoned, and some houses were completely buried by debris. Therefore, people left the area because of erosion and debris can be proved. Second, the land made less and less crops. As the Maya got bigger and bigger, the population also increased. In order to feed large population in valley, farmers decided to grow crops every year. However, even they grew crops every year, the population was too big, so

Ever since the collapse of the once powerful Maya civilization, people have been trying to find out what caused it. Authors of the article, "“Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization”", which include Gerald Haug, Detlef Günther, Larry Peterson, Daniel Sigman, Konrad Hughen, and Beat Aeschlimann propose a theory that the Mayans collapsed because of an extended dry period between 760 and 910 A.D.

One very interesting thing about the Mayans was that they had a very different view of creation than most common belief systems. The Mayans believed that the earth was just a plain old watery void to start out. Then, animals and plants came into the earth’s wide picture (Jarus). It was just animals and plants on the planet--no humans.

The collapse of the Mayan Empire is one of history’s greatest mysteries. It was one of the most advanced and developed civilizations of its time period, reining during the Pre-Classic period and into the Classic and Post-Classic Periods (2000 B.C. – 900 A.D.). The territory stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, down to modern day El Salvador in Central America. Its achievements were monumental for the era, being the first empire communicating with the use of a written language having over 800 symbols and producing the first 365 day calendar. They maintained an in-depth understanding of astrological cycles that would assist in planning harvesting cycles and predicting solar eclipses. The Mayan’s

The Maya weren't an empire, but they were a civilization. One known for their extraordinary achievements, such as the Mayan calendar. There wasn't a single factor alone, that caused the end of the Maya civilizations. There are many factors that could have caused the fall of the Mayas. One theory is that increased warfare caused the end of the "Classic Maya Age". Another theory was that the region suffered from a long dry period, & drought. This would have caused a shortage of food & water. And finally, the demands of the Mayan kings, could have caused the people in the city-states to rebell.

The Mayans employed tactics resemblent to our modern ones, they used technology to fix problems in an attempt to terraform their environment to meet their needs. They used things like Dams to store water and slash-and-burn agriculture to produce their crops. However, due to their location in Central America there was very little arable land for them to work on However, as they continued to grow in size, they were forced to increase their slash and burn techniques, which contributed to topsoil erosion and provided a logistical crisis for the Mayans regarding how they would feed their people. However because of the practices they relied upon, they never invested in things like terracing, or future proofing in the case of disaster.

The Mayans were a unique civilization with the most sophistication in mesoamerica (1800 BC-250 AD). In this civilization, the major cities include Tikal and Chichen Itza, however independent city-states are run by, kings. Mayans had a polytheistic religion where they believed in afterlife. In addition, Mayans built temples, pyramids for sacrifices, and bloodletting. Yet, they were excellent astronomers. Here priests charted movements of planets, moon, and sun. Also, these distinctive people created calendars, developed a number system, and glyphic writing. Withal their economy was based on agriculture and trade. Nevertheless, what caused this great civilization to collapse? While analyzing the theories, I believe this civilization collapsed, due to: warfare, disease, famine, and disaster/ environmental change.

This is important because this means that they actually tried to learn the best way to grow crops. Which would in turn definitely help the Mayan empire thrive. This is how agriculture would help the Mayan empire

The Maya civilization was one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica. The growth of the great Mayan civilization is as much a mystery as its disappearance. The Maya Empire, centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala, reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D (http://www.history.com/topics/maya#). As a youth growing up in Belize Central America, I was very much intrigued by the Mayan civilization as we would regularly take educational field trips to the massive stone temples of Xunantunich and Altun Ha. Both Mayan ruins were no more than 50 miles away from my childhood home. Most of what we know about the Maya comes from what remains of their architecture and art, including stone carvings and inscriptions on their buildings and monuments. The Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped various gods related to nature, including the gods of the sun, the moon, rain and corn.

In author Jared Diamonds essay: “The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the end of civilization,” he discusses the events that led to the ruining of ancient civilizations like the Mayans, due to the “ cultural attitudes of those in power,” and their inability to understand and find solutions for their environmental problems. Diamonds essay begins by describing a conventional Mayan society and their native habitat which was mainly composed of limestone and other porous sediments which created numerous difficulties for the Mayans especially as they were plagued with erratic weather changes that alternated between dry seasons

Agriculture was the basis of the economy of the Mayan and corn was the principal food.(Voorhies 324) Other crops included avocados, tomatoes, and chili peppers. They cultivated an enormous variety of plants.(Foley 20)

The Classical Maya was lost to the archaeological records until the last 200 years due to it’s abandonment. When the Mayans left there great cities, thick vines and jungles overtook the great monuments they once built. But in the last 200 years, in depth research has lead to breakthroughs into what the Classic Maya was like. The earliest Mayans were agriculturalist, growing crops such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava. The Mayans also invented a very accurate calendar, a math code using 0’s, constructed buildings still intact today, and a writing system that took decades to decode. The Mayans were situated in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), modern-day Guatemala, Belize, parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. Due to their location on the

The destruction of the Mayan Codices was pointless.The Mayan codex had just about everything from religious ceremonies to their history.The amount of knowledge lost is immeasurable. the Mayans were ahead of their time in keeping records,astronomy, and agriculture.That must have been one of the big motives for there burning.The spanish must have been scared of the mayans because of how advanced they were in agriculture.

I want to Find out what happened to the Mayans. The mystery of where the Mayans disappeared to still remains unsolved to this day. Many researchers have tried for several years to figure out where they went since they all disappeared. The Mayans disappeared hundreds of years ago with barely any clue as to where they went. To find the Mayans i would have to become an expert on their culture and history. I would have to travel to Central America to the place where their civilization began and follow the signs as to how the became the way they did when they disappeared and figure out what made them disappear. I would also have to find out where they most likely would have gone based on their previous civilizations.If I were to find out what happened