Humanities
Maryann Rayyan
April 1, 2013
Prof. Stanislaw
Humanities 121 What caused the collapse of the Maya Civilization?
While reading Three articles concerning the collapse of the maya civilization, I read about debates why the civilization fell apart. Ancient Mayan empire was approximately A.D 250 to A.D 900. The mayan Civilization once extended through out the area of Texas, southern Mexico, and Northern Central America, This includes the countries of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. The mayans was a very advanced civilization they had a break through in astronomy which helped them predict where the moon and planets would lay in the sky. The mayans left behind stone inscriptions and books regarding their gods, which taught us a lot about the mayan empire. A common reason the empire collapsed was drought which stopped the mayans from agriculture, and many more examples of the falling of the empire. While reading article one, No name and was provided, They stated, “ Many theories attempt to explain why Maya civilization collapsed, which include disease, war, drought, and economic turmoil.” No one could explain any of these theories. Evidence tried supporting that disease could have been an effect to the collapse of the civilization, but, “did not appear in skeletons and burial patterns, and there are no known New New World epidemic diseases.” The article goes on to talk about droughts having a major effect to the fall of the mayan empire, by saying, “droughts have been blamed for the maya collapse sediments and pollen evidence has been utilized to reconstruct an extensive dry spell and subsequent food stresses, which may have led to social unrest and abandonment of cities.” With out the rain or any type of water keeping the plants moist, the plants would not grow, Mayans relied on their plants for food to eat. This caused them to leave and their empire coming to a fall. Although the end of the article states, “There is no single explanation of the
April 1, 2013
Prof. Stanislaw
Humanities 121 What caused the collapse of the Maya Civilization?
While reading Three articles concerning the collapse of the maya civilization, I read about debates why the civilization fell apart. Ancient Mayan empire was approximately A.D 250 to A.D 900. The mayan Civilization once extended through out the area of Texas, southern Mexico, and Northern Central America, This includes the countries of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. The mayans was a very advanced civilization they had a break through in astronomy which helped them predict where the moon and planets would lay in the sky. The mayans left behind stone inscriptions and books regarding their gods, which taught us a lot about the mayan empire. A common reason the empire collapsed was drought which stopped the mayans from agriculture, and many more examples of the falling of the empire. While reading article one, No name and was provided, They stated, “ Many theories attempt to explain why Maya civilization collapsed, which include disease, war, drought, and economic turmoil.” No one could explain any of these theories. Evidence tried supporting that disease could have been an effect to the collapse of the civilization, but, “did not appear in skeletons and burial patterns, and there are no known New New World epidemic diseases.” The article goes on to talk about droughts having a major effect to the fall of the mayan empire, by saying, “droughts have been blamed for the maya collapse sediments and pollen evidence has been utilized to reconstruct an extensive dry spell and subsequent food stresses, which may have led to social unrest and abandonment of cities.” With out the rain or any type of water keeping the plants moist, the plants would not grow, Mayans relied on their plants for food to eat. This caused them to leave and their empire coming to a fall. Although the end of the article states, “There is no single explanation of the