The Mysterious Collapse of the Ancient Maya Empire

You may be surprised to learn that with all theWhy would a determined and resourceful people
recent discoveries being made concerning theabandon their great constructions of stone which
achievements and spontaneous collapse of thehad been laboriously erected in honor of their
Mayans, that there in fact was no Maya empire.rulers, ancestors and gods? After 900 CE no
Throughout the Classic Period (defined as themore Maya stelae that marked the dynastic
timeframe when the Mayans achieved their heightachievements and history of the proud Maya of
250BCE-900CE), the cities of the Maya landsthe Lowlands were carved or erected. These
were apparently independent city-states. Scholarsfantastic monuments of pre Columbian art were
compare the Maya cities to the city-states ofseen no more.
ancient Greece: all used a common language, hadOne of the present theories states that the
the same religious beliefs and group of commonLowlands Maya basically wiped one another out.
assumptions, but all were strongly independentCenturies of constant fighting between the
and often at a constant state of war with onecity-states greatly depleted the population. In
another, but no one central state enforced ruletime, the combination of falling population from
over the others.warfare and inadequate food from constant
To judge from surviving glyphs in pyramids,battles contributed to the condition where the
temples and Maya pottery, the dynastic ruler of acities could not be maintained and so were
Maya state gained great prestige if he couldabandoned. In effect the jungle soil would no
capture a rival king, hold him captive, inflictlonger produce the food necessary to support a
humiliating pain upon him and finally decapitate him.continuous state of war.
Wars seem to have taken place more forDisease may have also contributed to the
ceremonial purposes than for capturing and holdingacceleration of the decline. Maya pottery from
land. Indeed, the boundaries between the Mayanssurviving cities depicts diseases in greater
city-states remained fixed over the many yearsnumbers being present. As the population began
that were marked by great bloodshed. It isto fall, fear of hunger and future shortages fuelled
assumed that instead more powerful city-statesever-more violent conflicts for the dwindling
held the weaker ones in a tribute payingresources available. The end was apparent; people
relationship without confiscating their lands.chose to flee for safety and away from cities
In the 9th century CE, the cities in the Mayansthat offered no safety.
Southern Lowlands began to be abandoned. TheA true catastrophe took place, the mighty Maya;
jungle vegetation that the Maya farmers hadtimekeepers of the universe, together with their
tamed grew back, and in time even swamped thecenters of learning were no more. Their incredible
great temples and plazas that had once beenachievements in astronomy, mathematics, Maya
decorated with vibrant pre Colombian art wherepottery and other pre Columbian art as well as
priests and kings had celebrated royal power.monumental constructions in stone were erased.
But, not all the Mayans cities' were abandoned, toAll was claimed by the jungle and forgotten. Even
the north towards the tip of the Yucatantheir writing was forgotten.
peninsula, Maya cities such as Mayapan, Uxmal,Until very recent, the glyphs in stone and four
Labna and Chichen Itza continued to thrive,surviving Maya manuscripts were considered
making the decline of the Mayans lowland cities allundecipherable. It is only now at present with
the more puzzling. Within four to five generations,some breakthroughs that we are starting to
the great civilization of the Lowland Maya faded.decipher what words were written and truly
This event has been called "the great Mayacomprehend the splendor of their achievements,
collapse" by archaeologists and historians.and their great fall.