...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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...The Mayan civilization The ancient group of people called, Mayans were located in Mesoamerica. They were also known as the Classic Maya. They were believed to exist in the 8th and 9th century. Scholars state a theory surrounding their cause of disappearance. The Ecological theory is the main cause of the abrupt disappearance of the Mayan civilization. The ecological collapse theory states the main reason for the abrupt disappearance of the Mayan people pertains to natural causes such as droughts, climate change, and environmental change. Some scientist states that climate change was the main cause of their disappearance. Unusual shifts in atmospheric patterns took place throughout this time. Volcano eruptions could have been caused by the pattern change which may have destroyed civilization. There were long dry seasons that caused severe droughts each year. This caused a great effect on the Mayan vegetation and fertility. The Mayans hydrological engineering depended on seasonal rains to replenish their water supplies. This epidemic affected many people in the Mayan civilization. In conclusion, I believe this is plausible, because this can be related to modern society. Natural disasters such as, volcano eruptions, earthquakes, and rain storms has been known to destroy cities and take the lives of innocent people in this current day. It is evident that because of the ecological collapse the Mayan civilization could not survive. References Joel, P. (2006). Mayan Culture...
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...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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...sense of racism in their works. In addition, Hispanic-American thought intellectuals rarely produce original profiles because there elements originate from the elements and motifs originally designed for the European thought. Meanwhile, philosophy and religion plays a critical role in ancient civilization, culture creation, and preservation in the sense that they not only bind, but also influence the societal structure, statutes, and personal lives. This paper documents the Mayan culture taking into consideration their civilization, ideologies, as well as their rituals. Civilization Factors contributing to culture creation and preservation extend from geographical to a number of patterns. The origin of the Mayan culture from the central part of America gives the perfect example of socio-cultural effects, which even after several years, continue to exist. The review of Mayan gods, as well as their conquest by the Spanish holds confirms that religious factors ensure that the culture of the Mayan continues to thrive despite the influence by foreigners and the oppositions the Mayans faced. Meanwhile, the Mayans’ mathematical and astronomical advances were far much ahead of the Ancient Romans. They had their own developed numeric system, boasting to be one of the first to formulate the zero concept way before the Greeks....
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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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...Tangible History: A Short Study in Mayan Languages and Writing The distinctive characteristics that set men apart from animals have always baffled the minds of scientists and philosophers alike. Amongst these characteristics, language in and of itself remains one of the key ingredients to the puzzle. As a species, we humans have the ability to not just form distinctive sounds (like most animals can), but words—not just one set, but many; thousands of languages have existed over the centuries, each one more unique and complex than the last. The ability to communicate is as old as the human race is itself, and while we may not be able to understand every language in certainty, it does not mean we are going to stop trying. The first written languages as a whole appeared in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian areas simultaneously about 15,000 years ago. (Coe 1992: 13) Since then, thousands have sprung—seemingly out of nothing. Languages influence and loan to each other, words that have very little change (whether in pronunciation or spelling) no matter what language they are in. (Wichman and Brown 2003: 57, Coe 1992: 50) Without spoken language, a writing system is impossible—verbalized languages are one of the key ingredients to achieving a written language. (Coe 1992: 21) And it is here that we come to perhaps one of the most important ideas about ancient peoples: without a written language, it is hard to know practically anything about ancient peoples. Without documentation...
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...Disappearance of the Mayan Civilization The disappearance of the Mayan Civilization has always been a very interesting mystery to me. What happened to the Mayan people? This question has baffled many scientists, researchers, as well as historians since they disappeared of the face of the earth it seems. NASA-funded researchers believe that the Mayans themselves are responsible for their own extinction. The Mayans were supposedly a great culture that constructed pyramids and pavilions throughout Mesoamerica beginning around A.D.300 and disappearing around A.D. 900 (Harvey, D.A. 1977). By around A.D. 900, the Mayan civilization was in steep decline. New building stopped and the pyramids and ball courts were gradually abandoned to the jungle. Around this time the lowland population dropped by around 90 percent. There has been a lot of debate about what caused the collapse of the classic-era Mayan culture. Research by Stuart and Harvey (1977) suggests that the burdens of ritual warfare between city-states became too much or that a great epidemic decimated the population. Usually cultures will slowly become extinct as a result of numerous battles and many times from famine. However the Mayans simply disappeared as a culture. Researchers believe that Mayans were in harmony with their environment, but they made common mistakes as does most other cultures. Deforesting of the land and vegetation caused suffering for the Mayan people in that they could not find food and...
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...What Happened to the Mayan Civilization Abstract This essay explores two possibilities or theories, as to why the Mayan civilization eventually collapsed. While many theories surround this phenomenon, there is no distinct conclusion as to what exactly happened to the Mayan culture. However, archeologists have been able to attain some evidence, which has aided them to an approximation of time as to when the Mayan culture began its collapse or downfall. As the Mayan culture settled in an area where most human civilizations would normally find unsuitable or inhabitable, the Mayan people found ingenious ways to survive this harsh environment, and eventually prosper for many centuries. Unfortunately, as this rapidly growing culture became more advanced and powerful, struggle for more power and resources from different city-states caused the Mayans to frequently and viciously go to war with each other. Self destruction- a high probability! On the other hand, as the environment suffered a long period of drought, the absence of water supply hindered the Mayans to the basic necessities of life. With basic resources running low (especially lack of water supply), one can see why the Mayans warred among themselves, which would eventually cause their own extinction, and furthermore, why famine became so widespread. This is why these two particular theories regarding the collapse of the Mayan civilization are the most compelling to me. What Happened To The Mayan Civilization Warmongering...
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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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...| 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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...In the Mayan Civilization there were many rulers that made significant contributions. However, there is one ruler that stands out: K'inich Janaab' Pakal. K'inich Janaab' Pakal is also known Pacal the Great or just Pacal (Schele 23). He was born in March of 603 CE under his father, K'an Mo' Hix, and his mother, Sak K'uk'. The three lived in Palenque, a small Mayan city that was rather weak during the time before K'inich Janaab' Pakal’s rule. The city is located in current day Chiapas, Mexico. (Aloysius 20). During 611 CE, the current king died, and K'inich Janaab' Pakal was supposed to be the next heir of the throne. However, it was decided that he was too young to rule. During the year following his death, other people took the throne, albeit...
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...No one can say for sure know what happened to the Mayan people and their civilization, but there are many theories that are out there that were researched by scientist and theologians. The first theory, which was researched by Jared Diamond an American evolutionary biologist, would be that the cities of the Mayans got over populated and the natural resources may have been stretched to the breaking point. The second theory was due to the climate, the drought and the rainfall. Penn State anthropologist Dr. Douglas Kennett stated that, researchers have concluded that the climate change overturned the long-term wet weather pattern in Yucatan Peninsula and Central America to severe famine (T, Internationl Busniess, 2012). Many researchers thought that the drought and the lack of rainfall were what wiped out the Mayan Civilization. David Hodell a geologist from the University of Florida feels that the impacting drought could have been due to the changing position of the sun, as finding from the lake the team selected for their study (T, Internationl Busniess, 2012). Between 660 and 100CE, the climate change shared dying trend with less rainfall and long droughts. Numerous studies have shown that there were many prolonged droughts around the time of the civilizations decline. Gerald Haug, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, found it worse than that. He did a year by year reconstruction of the lake sediments and it showed that the rainfall was abundant from 550 to...
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...Green ANT 450 Professor Legg Malnutrition in Guatemala Guatemala is a Country in Central America right underneath Mexico. Its true name is the Republic of Guatemala. Guatemala consists of many indigenous Mayan people. It has a very heavy Spanish influence. Mayans are called the indigenous people as opposed to the westernized Ladino’s that have European blood in them and usually live in a more urbanized areas. More than half the Guatemalan nation is composed of indigenous Mayan Indians. The national language is Spanish. The five main Mayan languages are Quichí, Mam, Qanjobal, Chol, and Yucateca (Nacie L., 2011). In addition to these five main languages there are 21 dialects that branch off of these There are many factors that contribute to the extremely high rates of malnutrition in the country of Guatemala. Poverty, socioeconomic status, and education level all play a part. The disadvantaged Guatemalan is considered indigenous. Much racism goes on between indigenous and non-indigenous “Ladino’s.” Ladinos mainly rule the country (BBC, 2012). The amount of education is directly correlated with the amount of money made. The per capita GDP of Guatemala is $3,177 ranked 16 out of 19 in all of the Latin American Countries (Edwards, 2002). Guatemala has an approximate population of 14,027, 000. The life expectancy for men is 66 years old and for women 77 years old. Guatemala has the largest economy in Central America but it also has the lowest growth rates of human development...
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...the Great Barrier Reef to be easily observed. Coral islands called cays, covered with stands of mangrove trees, dot the coast. Lying in aquamarine and jade-colored bays, these cays protect the jungled coastline from the ravages of the sea. History The first inhabitants of Central America, of which we have any record, were the Mayas. These people had built an impressive civilization which reached its peak before the Europeans began their voyages of exploration to the New World. Little is known of the origins of the Mayan people, whose achievements are said to have rivaled those of the Egyptians. Many facets of their culture were unsurpassed until A.D. 1000 when the whole civilization collapsed. Temples and buildings were abandoned with the departure of the priests, probably due to a revolt among the peasantry. Many of the farmers remained until well into the fourteenth century, but then they too left, following the priestly classes to the Yucatan. The way of the Mayan people are, however, still evidential throughout Central America and can be seen in many areas of Belize. Like most Caribbean countries because of their location, Belize does experience sporadic hurricanes, and some of them have been quite spectacular. One of the first recorded cyclones devastated the newly founded Bay Settlement in September 1787. In September 1931, at a crowded celebration of St. George's Caye Day, a storm hit Belize...
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...Apocalyto Mel Gibson (Pre-Midterm Activity) Andre Kimberly Trish D. D’Silva BSCOMPE – SE 1 Brief Summary Set in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula (Central America), during the 16th century, Mel Gibson’s, Apocalypto follows the journey of a Mayan villager by the name of “Jaguar Paw”. This adaptation of the Mayan Empire illuminates a prophecy, surrounding Jaguar. Jaguar Paw is a peaceful hunter from a remote forest tribe whose life is about to be changed forever. When Jaguar Paw's village is raided and he is prepared as a sacrifice that the Mayan deities have demanded, the brave young hunter is forced to navigate a horrific new world of fear and oppression. Courageously determined to escape his captors and save his family from a distressing end, Jaguar Paw prepares to risk it all in one final, frantic attempt to preserve his dying way of life. However, few who have seen the sacrificial alter of the Mayans have managed to live to see another day. In order to rescue his pregnant wife and young son, Jaguar Paw will have to escape the most dominant warriors of the Mayan kingdom while using his immense knowledge of the forest to turn the tables on those who would rather see him dead than set free. Material Culture * Bamboo * stone-sling * Dagger * Spear * Rope * Accessories (necklace, nose ring, etc.) * Javelin * Piercings * Cloth-like clothing * Boomerang * Bow and arrow * ziggurat Non-Material Culture ...
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