COLLAPSE OF THE MAYAN CIVILISATION

SUBMITTED TO- MRS VASUDHA PANDE

ABSTRACT
The topic for my research paper the collapse of the Maya civilization. which was one of the
greatest established civilization of the. The classic period of the Maya is considered to be around
approximately [250A.D – 950A.D ] and collapse happened around [750A.D – 950A.D]. there are
several reasons giving for the decline of mayan civilization but our main focus will be on the
climatic change as the reason for its collapse. the first part of the paper deals with the basic
introduction and the various causes of the collapse and the second part focus more on the
climatic aspect of the decline of mayan civilization.

Introduction

With their magnificent architecture and sophisticated knowledge of astronomy and mathematics,
the Maya boasted on the great cultures of the ancient world.althought they had not discovered the
wheel and were without metal tools, the Maya constructed massive pyramids, temples and
monuments of hewn stone both in large cities and in smaller ceremonial centers throughout the
lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula, which covers parts of what are now southern Mexico and
Guatemala and essentially all of Belize. From the celestial observatories, such as the one at
chichen itza,they tracked t he progress of veus and developed a calendar based on the solar year
of 365 days. They created their own system of mathematics, and they developed hieroglyphic
scheme.
During its classic period(250-950 A.D), mayan civilization reached its zenith, at its peak around
750 A.D., the population may have topped 13 million. then between about 750 and 950 A.D.,
their society imploded. The Maya abandoned what had been densely populated urban centers,
leaving their impressive stone edifices to fall into ruin. The demise of mayan civilization has
been one of the great anthropological mysteries of modern times.
Since the travels of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood around 1840, we know that
the Maya have established one of the great cultures of the ancient world but what could have
happened to this great civilization ?

Scholars have advanced a variety of theories over the years, pinning the fault on everything
from internal warfare to foreign intrusion , from wide spread outbreaks of disease to a dangerous
dependence on monocroppping from environmental degradation to climate change. Some
combination of these and other factors may well be where the truth lies. However , in recent
years evidence has mounted that unusual shifts in atmospheric patterns took place near the need
of the classic Maya period lending credence to the notion that climate and specifically drought
indeed played a hand in the decline of this ancient civilization.
 Archaeologist David Webster describes the Classic Maya collapse as “one of the world’s great
archaeological mysteries”. Geologists Larry C. Peterson calls it “one of the great anthropological
mysteries”. Numerous archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, laboratory specialists,
epigraphers, among many, have conducted research on the Mayan civilization and all have their
own view central to their research and experience on how the empire came to an end. There are a
number of suggestions to select from such as drought, spread diseases, invasion, climate change,
revolts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and eruption of soil.

Theories of the Classic Maya collapse

Two pioneering Mayanists, Thomas Gann and J.E.S. Thompson (Webster, 2002: 217) gave in
1931 a number of explanations for the Classic collapse. They talked about climatic changes,
exhaustion of soil, epidemic diseases, earthquakes, war (internecine, foreign or both)national
decadence. And religious and superstitious causes. Considering from present day, with a little
rephrasing, they are strikingly similar to the explanations still argued today. Through that point
of view one would imagine scientists would already have been able to rule many of the theories
out and determine one more plausible than another. In reality the knowledge of the Mayans has
increased in a way it almost becomes impractical to put one theory over another, a matter which
will be discussed later on. In the below parts the most relevant theories of the demise of the
Classic collapse will be presented by authors whom have dedicated most of their scientific career
in Maya or Mesoamerican archaeology. The first theory from 1976 by Turner is a subject of
population density and how it might cause distress to the high populated Maya areas. Second
theory is not suggested by an archaeologists but a botanist with diseases as the most concern. In
the following the climatologically approach towards the collapse will be presented by
archaeologists Folan and science writer Abate. Folan who have dedicated much of his research
on climatologically affects on ancient societies have in his work in detail presented data
supporting climate changes. David Webster, a known professor of archaeological anthropology
argues for the most rapidly affected areas which were involved during the collapse: the kings,
lords and their associated Great Tradition. He also gives a broader cause to the collapse based on
non ecological and ecological causes. Climate debates will be continued by Lucero in 2002 and
Peterson in 2006 as both have drought for reasons to the collapse. Lucero on another hand also
suggest an elite decline due to water reservoirs drying up and don’t have a climate change as a
single vent theory.

Now let’s discuss the all the theories in a more elaborated way but our main focus wall still
remain on the climatic reason for the collapse of mayan civilization

Billie L. Turner, theory on Population density [1976] , One of the most important and
controversial issues of lowland Classic Maya has been the concern of population density and
whether it contributed to the demise of civilization. American geographer Billie L. Turner has in
an attempt through both house site and agricultural approaches to estimate an approximate figure
of the population density per square kilometer in lowland Maya civic-centers. The population
issue has made deviation of scholars from number of fields to increase focus into Maya
sociopolitical organization and ecological issues to expand knowledge of the demise of the
Classic Maya. It is today arguable whether or not the Mayan high population density contributed
to a breakdown of the total carrying capacity and if this resulted in emigration or disease spread
epidemics due to failure of health.

Moving forward we have the question of disease spread epidemics contributing or working as a
slow factor for the demise of classic Maya civilization have been discussed by botanist James
L.brewbaker as he argues for maize spread disease in the wet lowland tropics. His study is
mostly focused on the maize mosaic virus as it destroys yields of corn where it acts as most
severe where conditions allow a year round corn production. A sustained maize crop failure due
to disease is proposed by turner to have contributed to the Classic collapse as maize was a
supplement food source in the mayan diet . as high severity of maize mosaic virus can only be
detected in tropic wetlands a year round production of maize can be realistically argued only for
the lowland Maya as the region supports high activity of Peregrines maidis i.e. plant hoppers
from which maize mosaic virus is transmitted of. the general pattern of site abandonment of
classic Maya lowlands is from the peripheries from east to west . according to Brewbaker
interpretation of this data the spread of the virus has been slow and hazardous as sites like Edzna
in Maya civilization never resettled .

Moving ahead the next theory is a comparable theory to the climatic change debate but more
centered towards human activity as anthropologists Lisa J.Lucero discusses the roles of water
control that might have contributed to the classic Maya collapse. Since the rise of the Mayan
civilization deviates from other complex civilizations in relation to natural water reservoirs the
scale of water control in the Maya correlates with the degree of political power. In areas such as
Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, the Indus Valley, Andean South America and central Mexican
civilizations they emerged in areas with natural water sources and agricultural land that could
support a dense population. The Mayans emerged in southern lowlands jungles and ruled in areas
without any natural water sources. Lucero argues that scientists have failed to take notice of the
importance of the control of artificial reservoirs by Maya rulers which she suggests has played a
critical role both in the emergence and its later collapse. In the event of the collapse of the
Classic Maya one has to note that mostly the largest centers failed to survive whereas minor
centers avoided such and is according to Lucero because of less dependence on water control.
She also underlines the loss of water control emerged due to climatic changes with decreased
rainfall and therefore collapse of elite rules. Evidence supporting Lucero’s theory are the
abandonment of major centers of Tikal and Calakmul in the 900‟s, both dealing with drought but
second also with threat of foreign power due to weakened leadership. In both centers as in
Caracol, Copán and Palenque all suffered a disruption in royal interactions during the 800‟s
where leaders were not only facing with depleting resources but also internal among elite
lineages. Decreased rainfall and its possible effects such as disease and decreasing health are
possibly the main factors that put in motion the erosion of political power and might have
resulted farmers emigrating from elite ruled areas and population dying due to decreased health
and fertility (Lucero, 2002).

Moving on we have another very relevant theory that is the elite collapse theory(2002) by David
Webster that is classified into four categories a)peasant revolts b)internal warfare c)foreign
invasion d)disruption of trade networks .

The most well-known explanation of a peasant uprising was advanced by J.E.S. Thompson in
1954 where he suggests the idea of Maya elites being overthrown by their subjects the peasant
rebellion hypothesis. The reason for this approach by Thompson lies in the single most
prominent class of archaeological remains on the Maya landscape buildings. Since, great
buildings are among the principal cornerstones of civilization anywhere the buildings Maya
raised became monumental of the descriptive aspects of the culture7. Thompson believed that
monumental Maya buildings required enormous investments of human labor reminiscent of the
great pyramids of Egypt and argued that the elite demands for support and labor of building such
became increasingly oppressive undermining the religious devotion and ordinary people of
Maya. This would supposedly have lead to a rebellion against the priests in serious spontaneous
uprisings that broke out at slightly different times from place to place.
Webster reflected a serious problem with Thompson’s hypothesis as he points out peasant revolts
could only account for only part of what happened to the Maya and not be related to as a single-
event theory. The peasant revolt hypothesis didn’t solve the massive depopulation issue which
occurred across the Classic Maya between AD 850 and 900.
Archaeological research and inscriptions show that internal warfare among the Maya took place
already during Middle Pre-Classic times and increased in intensity towards the 7th and 8th
centuries and became an almost pathological condition of Maya society. However as more
evidence of war-related terms have been revealed by arts and texts and fortifications the old
approach has more or less been muted today.
The foreign invasion hypothesis, if such has ever occurred, generally affected the local areas of
the Classic Maya. According to a stela (a stone monument) from Seibal in the Maya lowlands
dated to about AD 800 is proposed to show iconographic elements not recognizable with the
Classic Maya. Although the discussion of a foreign invasion have been debated among scientists
in earlier days it has in present day in general become contradicted due to more research
conducted especially on the Seibal iconography which has drawn away the dramatic appeal it
once had. It is today in knowledge that the monuments at the end of the Classic era portrays a
much wider range of personage of social and political status than they have earlier done.
Scientists have also been able to read the Seibal texts representing distinctively the Classic Maya
tradition of calendar system and ,rituals,names and titles which contradict any foreign threat. It is
sought by Webster to recall the foreign invasion hypothesis.
The decline of trade networks, the basic logic of the argument is that Maya kings and elites were
heavily depended on functioning trade networks to uphold their authority by possessing,
displaying and redistributing prestige objects to attract and bind commoners to their political
duties. Due to a decline of such networks kings and nobles lost the essentialness of their
authority which weakened their influence over their subjects resulting in migration to other
regions. The trade disruption has created contradictions, to implicate with the collapse but recent
studies have shown that Teotihuacan seem to have lost its political and economic vastness
around hundred years earlier than before thought around AD 600-650 and its influence on the
Mayans was strongest around the 4th and 5th centuries9. This meaning, if the demise of
Teotihuacan had any influence on the Classic Maya it is more likely to be related to the 6th
century than during the actual timeline of the collapse

CLIMATIC THEORY
The decline of the Maya civilization has been analyzed and discussed since the discovery of their
ruins and remained one of the great anthropological mysteries. Over the years, scholars have
discussed not less than one hundred different possible causes, ranging from internal warfare,
foreign intrusion, environmental degradation, and outbreaks of diseases to climate change [3].
Until recently, mostly internal factors have been proposed as possible explanations for the
collapse of the Classic Maya civilization (i.e., the collapse was their own fault). Since 1995,
however, paleoclimate records from lake and marine sediments as well as stalagmites have
provided unambiguous evidence, that unusual shifts in atmospheric patterns caused a series of
devastating drought episodes, which are coincidental with the decline period of the Maya
civilization. Climate research has revealed that the annual shift of the intertropical convergence
zone (an atmospheric feature resulting in dry winter and wet summer seasons) sometimes
extends too far to the south, resulting in insufficient rainfall in summer. Researchers have found
a striking correlation between periods of severe drought indicated by paleoclimatic records as
proxy data and the fall of the Maya civilization during the 9th–11th century

The most winning theory for the swoon of Maya civilization is climatic perspective, Given the
worldwide image of lost Maya cities veiled underneath tangles of jungle vegetation, it may come
as a surprise to discover that the Yucatan is, in fact, a seasonal desert. The lush landscape
depends heavily on summer rains for nourishment, rains that vary considerably wideness the
peninsula. Annual precipitation ranges from as little as 500 millimeters withal the northern
tailspin to as upper as 4,000 millimeters in parts of the south.

The wet-dry condition results from the seasonal migration of moisture associated with the
intertropical convergence zone, an atmospheric full-length that is sometimes known as the
"meteorological equator." In this zone, the easterly trade winds of the northern and southern
tropics converge, forcing air to rise and bringing on cloudiness and well-healed rainfall. During
the winter months, the intertropical convergence zone shifts far to the south, and dry conditions
prevail over both the Yucatan Peninsula and northern South America. Then, with the coming of
summer, this zone migrates north again, bringing rain to the Yucatan and southern Caribbean
region.

The Maya had to deal with this seasonal condition and, in particular, had to cope with a long dry
season each year. This full-length of their environment had special significance, considering
surface waters tend to dissolve the limestone cap of the Yucatan, forming caves and underground
rivers but leaving little opportunity for water to sprits over land. So the Maya could not simply
locate their settlements withal major watercourses. Even important regional centers such as
Tikal, Caracol and Calakmul ripened in places that were without permanent rivers or lakes. The
lack of surface water for four or five months of the year in such areas spurred the construction of
large scale water-collection systems [reservoirs]. Many of the Maya cities built many reservoirs
whose water is sufficient for virtually 18 months. The ultimate dependence of water is from the
seasonal rainfall.

In his fascinating book, The Great Maya Droughts, self-sustaining archaeologist Richardson B.
Gill argues that a lack of water was a major factor

in the terminal Classic Maya collapse. Gill pulls together an enormous value of information on
modern weather and climate, draws on the record of historical droughts and famines, and gives
vestige from archaeology and from geological studies of warmed-over climates. To demonstrate
the importance of the porous limestone bedrock, for example, he quotes Diego de Landa, Bishop
of Yucatan, who in 1566 wrote: "Nature worked so differently in this country in the matter of
rivers and springs, which in all the rest of the world run on top of the land, that here in this
country all run and sprits through secret passages under it."

When Gills work was first published, the most compelling vestige for drought came from
sediment cores that David A. Hodell, Jason H. Curtis, Mark Brenner and other geologists had
placid from a number of Yucatan lakes. Their measurements of these warmed-over deposits
indicate that the driest interval of the last 7,000 years fell between 800 and 1000 A.D, coincident
with the swoon of Classic Maya civilization.

For largest understanding the climatic conditions during the time of the terminal Classic swoon
comes from a afar location, one not inhabited by the Maya at all. Offshore of the northern
tailspin of Venezuela sits a remarkable peepers in the continental shelf known as the Cariaco
Basin, reaching the ocean by kilometer but got surrounded by shallow shelf and banks and
increasingly of it, its shallow lip preventing the ocean water mixing in the basin.

As a result, deep Cariaco waters are devoid of dissolved oxygen (and have been since near the
end of the last glacial period, some 14,500 years ago). The lack of oxygen ways that the muddy
floor of the valley cannot support marrow dwelling marine organisms, which in other places
churn up the sediment in their search for food. This lack of a deep-sea fauna preserves the
integrity of the sediments, which here

are made up of paired light and visionless layers, each less than a millimeter thick. The origin of
these layers is easy unbearable to understand, During Northern Hemisphere winter and spring,
the intertropical convergence zone sits at its southernmost position near the equator, which ways
that little rain falls over the Cariaco Basin. At this time of year, strong trade winds wrack-up
withal the northern tailspin of Venezuela, causing cool, nutrient-rich waters to rise, which in turn
allows plankton living near the surface to proliferate. When these organisms die, their Shelly
remains fall to the bottom, where they form a light colored layer. During the summer, as the
northern hemisphere warms, the intertropical convergence zone moves steadily northward until it
takes up a position near the northern tailspin of South America. The trade winds diminish, and
the rainy season begins, increasing the sprits of local rivers, which then de liver a considerable
load of suspended sediment to the sea. These land-derived materials sooner settle out of the
water, leaving on the ocean floor a visionless colored layer of mineral grains on top of the older
unifying of light colored microfossil shells.

The visionless colored layers are the sediments washed yonder by the soil, Upper levels of
titanium and iron in the layer, thus indicate that large amounts of silt and soil were washed off
the proximal land and swept into the basin. That is, finding lots of titanium and iron at a
particular level in these sediments ways that rainfall in this region and by inference over the
Yucatan must have been upper at the time of deposition. Low titanium and iron, by contrast,
ways that rain was sparse.
Through instruments ,by collecting two slabs of sediment that together imbricate the time
interval from well-nigh 200 to 1000 A.D., focusing on those layers deposited during the terminal
Classic collapse. This interval revealed a series of four unshared titanium minima likely multi-
year droughts, which took place during a period that was once drier than normal. Four droughts
struck virtually 760, 810, 860 and 910 A.D., but quoting such precise dates is somewhat
misleading, given that the radiocarbon technique has an uncertainty of about thirty years for
samples of this age.

COCNLUSION
The Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into decline during the 8th and 9th centuries
and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental
inscriptions and large-scale architectural construction. There is no universally accepted theory to
explain this collapse. Non-ecological theories of Maya decline are divided into several
categories, such as overpopulation, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, and the collapse of key trade
routes. Ecological ideas include environmental disaster, epidemic disease, and climate change.
There is evidence that the Maya population exceeded capacity of the environment including
exhaustion of agricultural potential and overhunting of large animals.
Many theories regarding the demise of the mayan civilization have been starting from the
population density perspective by Turner to the concept of Elite collapse by David Webster in
which he discussed the concepts of the peasant revolts, Internal warfare, foreign invasion ,
Disruption of the trade. In my opinion the most accepted theory of the collapse of Maya is of the
climatic perspective, where Peterson discusses the role of the climate in the ultimate collapse of
the Maya, taking in consideration of its unique landscape and its position on the earth surface
near inter tropical convergence zone.
REFERENCES

Werner. Marx, Robin .Haunschild, Lutz. Bornmann, the Role of Climate

Mikael Hannikainen, Demise of classic Maya civilization (theoretical