The Downfall of the Mayan Civilization: Attempting to solve a riddle
Introduction
Human history has been haunted with one particular question: Why did the Mayan civilization, one of the most powerful empires in the world, with a population of more than 190 million individuals, mysteriously disappear between the 8th and 9th centuries? Though the descendants of the Mayans can still be found across the Central American region, a significant number of urban region in the Yucatan region were transformed from vibrant and strong cities to deserted rubble-strewn areas over a period of 100 years.
Experts and ordinary individuals have offered numerous postulates for the down spiral that buffeted the once mighty empire. These can range from the possible, such as invasion by a superior force, loss of food sources due to overhunting, or domestic conflict, to the highly speculative, such as extra terrestrial attacks and other “supernatural forces.” However, another, more contemporary theory has been put forth. In Collapse (2005), author Jared Diamond proffered that an extended period of desiccation, aggravated by damaging deforestation practices, impelled the Mayans to leave their mighty cities. This position has been tested and supported with archeological data and environmental statistics (Stromberg, 2012, p. 1).
Possible indicators for the collapse of the Mayan Empire were found in Copan, a Mayan archeological site in the western Honduras regions. Once regarded as a Mayan royal city, the biggest site in the southeastern region of the extinct Maya Empire, the city was built by the side of the Copan River (Annenberg Learner, 2014, p. 1). The discovery of these large ruins, and knowing the history of these sites as former royal cities, Europeans believed that a large and powerful empire was established in an extremely hostile environment was an oxymoron.
In this light, it seemed plausible that eventually, the Mayans declined owing to the harsh environment that surrounded the area. What is equally mysterious is that the Mayans were successful in thriving in this hostile environment. Though there were times that a single cause for the decline has risen and fell in popularity over time, there has been a general acceptance that a set of factors contributed to the fall of the Mayans. In addition, there has been a significant digression from a sudden, immediate trigger for the downfall of the Mayan to one that is longer, progressive in nature (Sharer, 2006, p. 509).
In the work of author John Lloyd Stephens, after examining the Copan ruins, he saw the enormity of the civilization that once held power in this inhospitable terrain. Numerous archeologists soon followed Stephens and agreed with this finding. Stephens and the others that followed him were advanced mathematicians. This led many scholars to conclude that the Mayans were a well-educated civilization. However, for all the sophistication and the education of the Mayans, the exact reason for the decline of the empire is still a puzzle to many.
Unlike the Mexican Aztecs or the Peruvian Incas, who both fell to the swords of Spanish conquerors, the Mayans left their cities at 900 AD, more than half a millennium before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World. Here, the only plausible reason left to researchers and scholars was the Mayans left their cities on environmental concerns. In the research of Sylvanus Morley (1946), the Mayans practiced massive deforestation in order to develop farms.
This practice continued until such time that the forest was completely decimated, or that the Mayans ran out of land to clear. There were others that proffered that Mayan farmers had exhausted the soil; still others suggested that natural calamities were also factors in the decline of the Mayans, and even others posited that malaria and other diseases played a large factor, as these played large roles in the decimation of large populations in the wake of the Spanish invasion (Aron, 2005, p. 98).
Nevertheless, there are shortcomings with regards to the acceptability of these theories. In particular, there are no concrete pieces of evidence that will be able to support these declarations. For example, though this is still a possible factor, a devastating natural catastrophe would have left some evidence of its occurrence; unfortunately, there is no archeological finding that can prove or disprove the same. There are those that suggest that a more savage people, either from the Gulf Coast region or from Central Mexico, occupied the northernmost cities of the Mayans or displaced the rulers in the region.
Nevertheless, the “invasion” was more of a cultural variety than military; nonetheless, the movement was enough to disrupt the Mayan political as well as religious structures in the area, and this moved to the south of the area as well. This could have led to an uprising from the Mayan peasantry, who were just content to serve the elitist priest order but scoffed at paying taxes to “foreign” invaders. This possibility, proffered by J. Eric Thompson (1954), found a degree of credibility in the ruins of a number of Mayan cities with the discovery of pieces of pottery that originated from the Central Mexican region.
In addition, a number of edifices done in the style of the Gulf Coast region were discovered in some ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula. The problem here is that no evidence of this invasion can be found in the heartland regions of the Mayan Empire. As for the pottery and the architecture, these could have been the results of trade of the Mayans with these regions, and not the result of “invasion (Aron, 2005, p. 98).
However, what can be proven with credible data is the environmental slant of the research activities. In the study of researchers from the University of Arizona entitled Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers examined archeological evidence from the entire Yucatan Peninsula in order to develop an improved comprehension of the environmental situation when the region was abandoned. It was found that in this period in history, acute deficiencies in rainfall combined with unsustainable forest usage practices; the Mayans practiced dangerous “slash and burn” methods to significantly increase the amount of land that could be used for farming and agriculture (Stromberg, 2012, p. 1).
This type of agricultural practice can obliterate the fertility of the soil and morph abundant forested lands to dustbins. As the Mayan farmers did not have the needed tools and technology to properly cultivate the lands, these were forced to abandon the grasslands. The amplification of this destructive type of agricultural practice was due to the exploding population and tensions from deficiencies of usable water and lands. With Mayan lowland populations exploding to the limits of what the area can produce, the agricultural mechanisms increasingly became more threatened with top soil loss, decreased fertility of the land, and shortages in water supplies (Sharer, 2011, p. 511).
Furthermore, the Mayans also needed an enormous amount of wood for industrial use. Experts estimated that the Mayans used an average of 20 trees to be able to produce one square meter of cityscape materials. In another research study, this time conducted by analysts from Columbia University entitled Geophysical Research Letters, the research used quantitative methods in evaluating these trends. By utilizing population and prevailing as well as deforested lands statistics in the region, the Columbia University researchers developed deforestation models in the Yucatan Peninsula and operated simulation models on the impact of these factors on rainfall in the area.
As deforested lands have a limited ability to absorb heat from the sun, water on the surface of the land will evaporate slower. This will slow down cloud formation and rainfall in the affected areas. The ensuing drought worsened an already punishing drought in the region. In the model ran by the researchers, the loss of forested lands decreased rainfall amounts in the region by approximately five to 15 percent and was the prime factor for 60 percent of the cumulative drying that happened in the course of one century as the Mayan Empire declined.
The weak soil cover also resulted in top soil loss as well as the exhaustion of the land. As the Mayan population exploded in size, the confluence of these factors was cataclysmic for the Mayans. Crop failures, particularly as the droughts happened more in the summer time when the growing season occurred. Accordingly, commerce moved away from the overland roads, which crossed the center of the lowlands, to ocean-based routes that traversed the fringes of the region. With the elite drained of their influence owing to the reduced trade in the area, the peasants were forced to abandon the lowlands to escape possible starvation (Stromberg, 2012, p. 1).
What is tragic in this story is that the Mayans may have contributed to their own demise. Though the Mayans were well-educated and versed, and were well aware of the operations of the environment, these still continued to practice their destructive farming and agricultural practices. With their unabated destruction of the forests to create more lands for farms, and even more tragically, to produce materials for the beautification of their city, these essentially wrote the footnotes to their own decline and eventual downfall (Stromberg, 2012, p. 1).
References
Annenberg Learner (2014) “The Maya” Retrieved 6 December 2014 from <http://www.learner.org/interactives/collapse/mayans.html
Aron, P. (2005). Mysteries in history: from prehistory to the present. California: ABC-CLIO
Sharer, R.J. (2006). The Ancient Maya. California: Stanford University Press
Stromberg, J (2012). “Why did the Mayan civilization collapse? A new study points to deforestation and climate change.” Retrieved 6 December 2014 from <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-did-the-mayan-civilization-collapse-a-new-study-points-to-deforestation-and-climate-change-30863026/?no-ist
