...The Mystery behind the End of Mayan Civilization Vanessa Espinoza Professor Perry World Cultures I Strayer University Mayan Mystery Civilizations all over, rose to become strong, powerful nations and descended due to many reasons. One civilization in particular, is the Mayans. The Mayan Empire began around 1800 B.C and lasted until around 900 A.D. Located in tropical environments, in what is now known as the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize and parts of México. The Mayan people were known for their advance levels of mathematics, astronomy, and they develop a calendar system based on 365 days that we use in present day. The Mayan people also created many elaborate cities with stoned pyramids that partially remain intact today. How can a great nation, who developed a complex system, and flourish for many centuries, just disappear; leaving many questions unanswered? What happened to the Mayans? This is one mystery that has many people asking questions about what happened to a large number of people without wondering if this could ever happen again. Two theories that could explain what happened to the Mayan people are: drought and climate changes lead to the demised of the Mayan culture, and/or warfare from neighboring cities or foreign invaders caused the Mayans to become extinct. Scientist Martin Medina-Elizalde and Eelco Rohling believe that the climate changes affected the rainfall causing droughts. Many others believe that invaders from other countries...
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...End of Mayan Civilization Samuel Nathaniel H. Stansbury HUM 111 11/3/2012 The mystery concerning the fundamental explanation for the collapse of the Mayan Civilization has been a major focus for researchers in the fields of anthropology and archeology for a considerable period of time. At the very core of this mystery of the Mayan collapse was the question of how could such a strong, stable civilization that had flourished for approximately twenty-seven hundred years disappear without a clear, rational explanation. As a result, researchers have put forth a large number of theories for the explanation of the collapse and subsequent decimation of the Mayan empire. Although it would be convenient or simple to put forth a theory concerning only one reasonable or rational factor explaining the collapse of the Mayan civilization, this would be both insufficient and impossible from a strictly theoretical standpoint. For example, Henry M. Sayre argues that by 900 A. D. (900 CE), Mayan civilization had been decimated as a result of not just one single factor, but, rather, as a result of a number of equally important factors. These factors included overpopulation and accompanying ecological degradation, political competition, and warfare (Sayre, 2012, p.392). Once again, it is essential to clearly articulate the fact that it is theoretically impossible to put forth only one single underlying factor in a theory offering a coherent explanation for the collapse of the Mayan civilization...
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...Name Institution Professor Date Causes of the Maya Empire Decline Introduction The Maya Empire that was located in the tropical lowlands of what now stands as the Guatamela reached its climax of power and influence in the sixth century A.D. The Maya were successful in farming, hieroglyph writing, pottery, mathematics, and architecture. They left behind impressive architecture and inscriptions that are a record of their symbolic artwork. Researchers have established that the Maya cities were completely abandoned by 900 A.D. Evidence reveals that the Maya Civilization was among the most dominant indigenous societies in Mesopotamia. Different from other indigenous populations, the Maya were centered in one geographical region. Evidence that they were organized makes it a challenge to understand what could have caused the decline. This paper reveals several of the main factors that researchers find possible causes of the decline. Much has been done in this pursuit since the start of the 19th Century. History of the Maya Empire The Maya civilization had increased to about 40 cities in the period 250-900 A.D. defined as the classic period. Cities included Uaxactún, Tikal, Copán, Calakmul, Palenque, Dos Pilas, and Río Bec among others. Each of these had a population ranging between 5,000 and 50,000 heads. The total Maya population is thought to have reached two million people, the cumulative population of all the cities. Excavations have revealed unearthed plazas, temples, palaces...
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...The Mystery behind the End of Mayan Civilization World Cultures I Mayan Mystery Civilizations all over, rose to become strong, powerful nations and descended due to many reasons. One civilization in particular, is the Mayans. The Mayan Empire began around 1800 B.C and lasted until around 900 A.D. Located in tropical environments, in what is now known as the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize and parts of México. The Mayan people were known for their advance levels of mathematics, astronomy, and they develop a calendar system based on 365 days that we use in present day. The Mayan people also created many elaborate cities with stoned pyramids that partially remain intact today. How can a great nation, who developed a complex system, and flourish for many centuries, just disappear; leaving many questions unanswered? What happened to the Mayans? This is one mystery that has many people asking questions about what happened to a large number of people without wondering if this could ever happen again. Two theories that could explain what happened to the Mayan people are: drought and climate changes lead to the demised of the Mayan culture, and/or warfare from neighboring cities or foreign invaders caused the Mayans to become extinct. Scientist Martin Medina-Elizalde and Eelco Rohling believe that the climate changes affected the rainfall causing droughts. Many others believe that invaders from other countries or cities over powered the Mayans. Climate changes If invaders...
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...The Mayan civilization had it beginnings around the year B.C. 2,000. Its earliest origins point to the Yucatan Peninsula of present day Mexico. The Maya culture was made up of various groups of indigenous peoples who shared a common religion, practiced its rituals, shared a common calendar, and to some degree, a common writing system. The ability to read one type of hieroglyphics does not mean one can read the writings from all Mayan geographical areas. The Mayas spoke several distinct dialects; their hieroglyphics also depict this difference. One theory is the Mayans did not disappear; although millions did vanish, all at once, about 1,200 years ago, in the ninth century AD. There are many, many Mayans living today, principally in Guatemala. It is stated that in the Tikal area of Guatemala, there are relatively that the Atlantic area turned extremely cold, that the normal tropical rain band of Central America is pushed further south, into the northern part of South America. Secondly, scientific investigations of the ice in the far north were using ice techniques the deep core corresponding shows extremely low ammonia content in the soil. The second theory is that over population may have caused the people to move because there was not be enough food for everyone. The Maya was a farming people and the farmland would to be fertilized like today. Some historians have also said droughts may have caused the people to move-since they would have to land and water for their...
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...groups in the early Americas. Their names are the Mayas, Aztecs, and the Incas. Mayans Many of the Mayans greatest achievements dates back to the Classic Period (300 -900 C.E.) It was during this time that the Maya civilization achieved its greatest achievements in art, culture, power and influence. Most of their achievements were so high that hundreds of years later other groups such as the Aztecs and the Incas used them (i.e. the calendar and mathematics) The Mayans are important because they made a major breakthrough in both Mathematics and Astronomy. The Mayans were the first to calculate the number of days in a year accurately by observing how the start and planets move. Doing this, they helped create the calendar as we know it today. The Mayans also had a strong hand the Art and Crafts, they made large statue of solid rock to represent an important leader (Called a Stele). Not only did they represent important leader, but they represented a written record of his accomplishments in the formed of carved stone glyphs. Aztecs Even though the origins of the Aztecs are not necessarily clear, we know that they did adapt from the Mayan ways. One of their achievements was building their city called Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs appeared in Mesoamerica–as the south-central region of pre-Columbian Mexico is known–in the early 13th century. Their arrival came just after, or perhaps helped bring about, the fall of the previously dominant Mesoamerican civilization, the Toltec. Aztec education...
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...exhaustion of their environment no longer able to sustain a large population and it’s constant growth. The latter of these theories was proposed by Atmospheric scientist Bob Oglesby. According to Oglesby the collapse of the Mayan settlements was in large due to forestation. The evidence he found was based on the thickness of the floor stones in the Mayan ruins. His study revealed that they would have needed about 20 trees to build a fire large enough to make the plaster floor stone that is about one square meter. In the earliest ruins, these stones were as thick as a foot or even more, but these stones progressively got thinner in the more recent built ruins; those were only a few inches thick. Oglesby calls the Mayan deforestation the granddaddy of all deforestation events. Further studies reveal that the Mayan population reached its peak population at 1,800 to 2,600 people per square mile. In comparison, Los Angeles County averaged 2,300 people per square mile in 2000. Due to this constant growth of the Mayan Empire, its environment was exhausted of its natural resources for it to further thrive and survive; thus by 950 CE the population crashed and he estimated about 90% of the Maya people died. In my brief research of the Mayan people, this theory is the one that makes the most sense to me, but the...
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...Farming's Impact on the Rise and Fall of the Mayan Empire History is an ever-changing concept. The world as we know it has not always been the way we know it to be, and with each new discovery a different connection/story line is revealed. One of the greatest mysteries of ancient history is the fall of the Mayan Civilization. The Mayan's are thought to be one of the most technologically advanced and successful civilizations of our world's early and most primitive times, but as quick as they conquered they vanished. There are many different theories as to what caused the Mayan's to fall and disappear however, the theory that seems to have the most support is that the one thing that allowed them to be most successful also doomed them in their final days... farming. The Mayan Civilization grew so rapidly due to their advanced agricultural techniques, their ability to develop and perfect these techniques based on their need to produce more food for their growing needs, however ultimately these farming methods failed them leaving their enormous civilization dependant on food THEY farmed hungry and forced to move on or die out. To start, the Mayan's weren't a very large nation nor did they have very usable land to be able to farm on. They were located in Mesoamerica in the center of many wetlands and hills/mountains, however they did not let these hindrances stop them, instead, they used their unique habitat, and developed new ways of farming that proved to be VERY successful...
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...Theories Behind the Disappearance of the Mayan Civilization Travis Epling Prof. Aprile Castagna Cappuzzo Introduction to Humanities 2 May 2014 Theories Behind the Disappearance of the Mayan Civilization There are many theories behind the decline of the Mayan Civilization. They range from over-population, war, famine, immigration, deforestation, climate change, and even aliens. When we say the disappearance of the Mayans we do not mean that the culture completely disappeared, we are talking about and extreme reduction in population. Tom Server believes as much as 90 to 95 percent of the population. Many of the major bustling cities of the Mayan Empire such as Tikal, Palenque, and Copan were simply abandoned for, what appears to be, no reason. Many of these theories have been debunked over time with the development of new science technology that allows for more thorough of investigations of these ancient civilizations. The first theory we will visit will be the affects of deforestation which also encompasses part of the climate change theory. NASA archaeologist, Tom Sever(2004) states that , “The Mayan civilization in Mesoamerica was one of the densest populations in human history”. He believes that the population during the height of the Mayan Empire would have been between 1800 and 2600 people per square mile. In 2000, the population density of Los Angeles was around 2300 for a comparison. The extreme amount of people living in the area would have put...
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...| Disappearance of the Mayan Civilization | | | Jerome A Brown Jr. | 2/4/2013 | | No one can say for certain what happened to the Mayan people, but theories abound and include varied possible alternatives to explain the abrupt and mysterious disappearance of the Mayan civilization. Many historians have questioned “how” or “why” the Mayan civilization disappeared after the 10th century; however there is no definitive answer to this question. One possible theory is the Mayan’s civilization grew to such an extent that they deforested so much of the region that it had significant climate changes, thereby forcing the Mayan people to immigrate to other regions (Server, 2004), this theory has some scientific background, and scientists have used satellites to study the topsoil of Central America. They found that right before the civilization collapse, the sediment had changed from tree pollen to weed pollen, suggesting there were no more trees in the area. The result of a treeless environment is the erosion of fertile topsoil, warmer climate, and a possible reduction of precipitation. Since the Mayans depended on water reservoirs from precipitation, this would have had a detrimental effect. Another theory surrounding the disappearance of the Mayan people is consistent droughts that took place preceding the tenth century and the reduction of civilization through various wars caused the Mayan civilization to dwindle down to virtual extinction...
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...What Happened To the Mayans? Michelle Boseman Professor Sisson Humanities 111 Many historians have questioned “how” or “why” the Mayan civilization disappeared after the 10th century; however there is no definitive answer to this question. One possible theory is the Mayan’s population and heavy environmental consumption may have lead to deforestation and soil exhaustion grew to such an extent that they deforested so much of the region thereby forcing the Mayan people to immigrate to other regions, this theory has some scientific background, and scientists have used satellites to study the topsoil of Central America. Scientist have found that right before the civilization collapse, the sediment had changed from tree pollen to weed pollen, suggesting there were no more trees in the area. The result of a treeless environment is the erosion of fertile topsoil, warmer climate, and a possible reduction of precipitation. Since the Mayans depended on water reservoirs from precipitation, this would have had a detrimental effect. Initially the Mayan civilization prospered throughout the lowlands. From 300 B.C. to 900 A.D. the Mayans developed a relatively productive agriculture-based economy based on the surrounding terrains, which lead to expansions in population. Mayan agriculture suffered from various limitations, which made their level of stability somewhat fragile. The Mayans relied heavily upon a narrow range of crops including corn, which made up 70% of their diet,...
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...Disappearance of the Mayan Civilization Gladis Y. Romero Prof. Lowell Larry Pullen, Ph.D. HUM111 – World Cultures I Strayer University May 4, 2013 Abstract Maya Civilizations was truly remarkable. There is so much to learn from this Ancient society. Due to advance research, new clues have aroused about the disappearance of this magnificent empire. We now know they suffered a calamity, the mighty Maya; timekeepers of the universe, together with their centers of learning were vanished. Their incredible achievements and legacy in astronomy, mathematics, Maya pottery and other Pre-Columbian art as well as monumental constructions in stone were obliterated. All was reclaimed by nature. Even their writing was forgotten in time. Until very recent, the glyphs in stone and four surviving Maya manuscripts were considered a mystery. It is only recently with some scientific advancement that we are starting to decode what words were written and truly comprehend the excellence of their achievements, their great fall and disappearance. The Disaster and Warfare Theory are discussed, believing the Warfare Theory is the most plausible one. No one can say for certain what happened to the Mayan people, but theories abound and include varied possible alternatives to explain the abrupt and mysterious disappearance of the Mayan civilization. Minster’s (2013) Article explains the following: In 800 A.D., the Maya Empire consisted of a number of powerful city-states spreading from southern...
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...Climate change caused the fall of the Khmer Empire Cyclical warming led to a 3 decade long drought. El Nino, the cyclical warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean, was theorized by researchers from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York to be a very important role on shutting down the rains in Cambodia during the reign of the Khmer Empire. Which therefore lead to the drought. A study author from the same observatory as the researchers names Brendan Buckley stated, “I wouldn’t say climate change caused the collapse, but a 30-year drought had to have an impact.”. Supporting his statement, tree rings in Cambodia which have been studies proved that there was a mega-drought lasting three decades, followed by another short drought, although still as a effective for about 20 years. The shorter drought was right before the empire collapsed. Intense flooding caused damage to Cambodia’s agriculture systems. Researchers, alongside discovering the mega-drought, have found evidence that intense rainy season may also have caused the fall of the Khmer....
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...The Yucatan has a very rich history, which led to the success that it has today. It started out being the stronghold of Mayan civilization during the 12th century; however, the Yucatan went through many years of power struggle and war. In 1824 Yucatan became an official Mexican State. Until the mid-1900s, Yucatan’s only contact with the outside world was by sea. As a result, Yucatan’s trade with the United State’s, and the European and Caribbean Islands were far more profitable than that of all other Mexican states. Yucatan was linked to the rest of Mexico by railway in the 1950s and by highway a decade later. In the 1960s, the first commercial jet airplanes arrived in Merida. International airports were built in Cozumel and Cancun in the 1980s,...
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...The conquest of the Aztec empire was a world-changing phenomenon that led to Spanish colonization and what know is known as modern day Mexico. Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez led the expedition in 1519 with his men in search for new territory to conquer. This event in history is significant because it brings history of past civilizations that went extinct after the terrorization of the Spanish conquest. To begin with, the Spanish had made several trips to Yucatan in 1517 with tales of gold and the Mayan civilization. These rumors gathered interest in the Spanish colonists, which made it all the way to Spanish governor of Cuba Diego de Velasquez. Diego de Velasquez provided Hernan Cortez with two or three ships and...
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