One of the greatest cultures of the ancient world boasted brilliant architecture and a vast knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. This culture was the culture of Maya, whom resided in the Yucatan Peninsula; this includes southern parts of Mexico, parts of Guatemala and practically all of Belize. The Mayans tracked the progress of Venus through the sky and developed a calendar based on 365 days. They created there own mathematical system, based on the number twenty with a concept of zero. There were hundred of different signs in the hieroglyphic system that they developed.
The classic Mayan period was between 250A.D and 750A.D and the civilization reached its peak at around 750A.D. It is believed that at its peak the Mayan civilization may have had a total population of 13 million people. Then between 750A.D and 950A.D the society imploded. The magnificent stone pyramids were left to fall into ruin as the Mayans abandoned densely populated urban centres. The southern part of the Mayan empire collapsed first, followed by the Northern half. The collapse of the Mayan civilization is called by archaeologists the “terminal Classic collapse”. In this classic collapse the whole Mayan society was not wiped out. Some cities such as Chichen Itza and Mayapan survived this devastating fall. Some cities survived until the Spanish came in around the mid 1500’s. The Spanish Invasion devastated the remaining Mayans, the Spanish fought and brought horrible diseases that caused epidemics within the Mayan world. I will not be dealing with this smaller collapse, I will be explaining the Classic Collapse period.
Firstly the Mayan’s were thought to live in a rain forest, this is incorrect. The Mayan’s lived in a “seasonal tropical rainforest”. There was a wet and dry seasons, the dry seasons were in fact very dry, and the wet seasons were very wet. Because the seasons were very unpredictable sometimes the farmers would plant there crops expecting the rain to come and it didn’t, causing the whole crop to fail. Around the time of the classic collapse there was an atmospheric change. Sediment cores taken form Yucatan lakes suggest that there was a long dry period between 800aA.D and 1000A.D; this coincides with the collapse of the Mayan society. Because it was so dry, the staple corn, which made up 70% of the Mayan’s diet, was not as plentiful as before. So it became increasingly harder to feed the still growing population, and was it was very hard to support the army’s in the ongoing wars the Mayan’s fought within themselves.
The Yucatan Peninsula was covered with mostly lush forests, which were made up of many trees. The Mayan’s took advantage of these trees and deforested much of the forests they lived in. The trees were used for fuel and for making into plaster, this plaster was used to plaster houses and this form of decoration was becoming increasingly popular towards the classic collapse. Unlike Easter Island, the Mayans cleared this free land was not put to waste; farmers would grow crops in the nutrient rich soil. Easter Island deforested there whole island to make their statues, unlike the Mayans who deforested their land for crops. This worked well until all the nutrients had been sucked out of the soil and crops could no longer grow.
The Mayan’s were never one empire, compared with the Aztecs, they were lots of separate kingdoms. These kingdoms were constantly fighting between themselves to conquer each other, and this put a huge strain on the already limited resources. The Mayan’s fought intensely, chronically and devastatingly. What is more, the wars became more intense and more frequent as the collapse drew nearer. The Mayans fought many types of wars, wars between separate kingdoms, cities within kingdoms revolting against their capitals, civil wars and fights between commoners over land became more frequent as population grew.
The kings and nobles were more worried about themselves than whether there society’s succeeded or failed. They were always putting lots of effort into the wars against other kingdoms and whether they would seize more land for their own. They were more worried about building beautiful palaces to live in and erecting monuments to themselves. Because of this they didn’t seem to notice seemingly obvious catastrophic problems there societies were facing. They did not react in any way to the droughts, or the deforestation problems, the fact that wars put a huge strain on the already low resources, or the fact that with the population growth, demand for food and water was very close to outstripping supply and the many other problems.
All these many problems interrelated with one another to cause the classic collapse of the Mayan Civilization.
Jared Diamond outlines his five point framework model in his book Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. The five point framework is a model as to why societies fail. This framework is separated in 5 different sections: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbours, trading partners and the society’s response.
Jared Diamond’s five point framework suits the theory’s as to why the Mayan society collapsed. Four of the five points associate with the Mayans and why they collapsed. The climate changed, they didn’t have hostile enemies but fought among themselves, the environment had been damaged, but they had no trading difficulties because they didn’t have any trading partners to begin with and they didn’t respond to the crisis well.
Diamond’s theory as to why the Mayan’s fell can be summed up in 5 simple sentences.
1.The population growth exceeded the resources available.
2.Deforestation and hillside erosion decreased amount of usable farmland.
3.Wars amongst kingdoms, and fighting amongst people over the depleting resources.
4.Severe droughts, in previous droughts people would move to were there was more water; in the classic collapse this was impossible because of the first three problems.
5.Kings and nobles were focused on themselves and overlooked the seemingly obvious problems faced within there society.
The theory’s as to why the Mayan’s collapse also fits the framework of historian Joseph Tainter. Tainter’s framework consists of three different models which he says at least one or more allocate to the collapse of a society. The first is named “The Dinosaur”. This is when a society uses up its resources at an exponential rate, and its leaders do nothing to solve the problem. Number two, the “Runaway Train”, is when a society can only sustain itself when there is growth present, and when there is a time that there is no growth, it collapses. The third and final model is the “House of Cards” and is when the society has grown so big and complex that when some small problem comes along, it has a high chance of collapsing. These three models usually do not occur individually but are intertwined with one another, strengthening the other models.
This framework sits well on the Mayans well; all three models, “The Dinosaur”, “The Runaway Train” and “House of Cards” interrelate within the Mayan society.
The Mayan’s deforested there land, for fuel and fields for crops, but after a while the soil was exhausted and no more crops could grow. The population was growing and the need for food was becoming greater, but the kings overlooked this and continued putting many resources into building their monuments and fighting wars (The Dinosaur). This depletion of resources weakened the Mayans to things like invasion and drought (House of Cards). The ongoing competition between cities and kingdoms kept the people building bigger and better temples and monuments so when there was no more resources left the society would be sure to not be able to withstand the problem (Runaway Train).
I think that the framework that fits to the collapse of the Mayan civilization is Jared Diamond’s five point framework. I think this is because there is more of a variety of reasons as to how the society collapsed. Also it offers one section on response to collapse which is vital, that one thing could save a whole civilization.
One of the aspects of the five point framework, hostile enemies, is debateable to have occurred within the Mayan society. Because the Mayans didn’t fight neighbours, they fought amongst themselves. Although I believe that this aspect of the framework still apply’s because the Mayans were never one empire, they were lots of separate kingdoms. So when kingdoms were fighting one another they were fighting neighbours.
Also Jared Diamond offers a simple theory, summed up in 5 sentences as to why the Mayans collapsed, these sentences also fit into the framework. These 5 reasons intertwine and are all related to one another.
(Optional Extra)
The Mayan Civilization was one of the most advanced civilizations of thee time. This did not stop it from collapsing. This shows us that no matter how sophisticated and advanced the society, it can still fall into ruin and decay. This is very appropriate to our contemporary society.
There are many things that our society can learn from the Mayan society. These lessons are to be put into practice by not repeating the same mistakes the Mayans did. If we can do this and reverse the problems that have already arisen we, as a society, may be able to avert a collapse.
One lesson we can learn is the deforestation. Although this world is almost beyond repair, we can do what the Mayans did not, we can attempt to fix our mistakes. If we plant trees that are not for wood, and let our natural forests grow back we may be able to save our world.
Another problem that the Mayan’s faced that we are facing is the fact of over population. One of the most contributing factors of the classic collapse was the fact that demand for food and water surpassed supply. We can see the problem of over population in China, were there is 100,000,000 people. China has imposed the one baby law, this means families are only allowed one baby. This is the beginning of a resolution, but if the worlds population continues to grow at the rate in which it is growing, there will not be enough resources to support all the people.
The world today has many more, different problems to the world 1000 years ago. Things like global warming, fossil fuels and many more. What we can learn from this ancient society is to not stand by idly as our society collapses around us. We need to do all we can to find renewable power sources and fix all our other problems.
To sum up, the main lesson we can learn from the Ancient Mayan Civilization and their classic collapse is to do something about our problems. We can not sit around while our society collapses.
By me... Cameron White
Bibliography:
Books:
Diamond,(2006) Collapse How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, Penguin, USA.
Internet:
American Scientest Online, http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/44510?fulltext=true, 2005.
Wikipedia, Societal Collapse, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse, 2008.
