Why The Mayan's Collapse?

The first theory I chose was that the Mayans destroyed themselves through careless usage of their natural resources. Since they would need a large amount of farmland to produce enough food to feed a city (alongside use of animals). To do this, they used “slash-and-burn” techniques to clear out large areas of land for farming. These farmlands would provide food for a short period of time before more land would need to be burned. Since it would take about 15 years before vegetation would begin to take hold in the soil again, this would quickly result in little land being available for the Mayans to grow food, a dangerous situation for almost any urban center or beyond.

The second theory for the Mayan’s collapse was due to environmental changes brought on by a lack of forests. Once land was cleared, it would quickly lose its ability to absorb solar radiation. This would cause any water in it to take much longer to evaporate. Without water evaporating, clouds and rain wouldn’t be able to form. This would make growing and maintaining crops much more difficult, as the water from nearby rivers would not be enough, and any water from the Gulf of Mexico would have too much salt in it to work as a way to water crops; salt will kill most plants. A lack of rain also puts a toll on the
However, they share some distinct differences, mostly due to how they were caused. While the theory of environmental damage is directly related to the behavior of the Mayans, the claim of climate changes is the non-direct result of large amounts of deforestation on account of the Mayans, not directly due to their “slash-and-burn” technique. The theory of environmental destruction is also directly focusing on how the Mayans did serious damage to the world around them, whereas the climate change theory is, in part, due to a natural effect from clearing