The Collapse of the Mayan Civilisation

So far my blog has looked at various definitions and processes associated with cultural geography. I now want to slightly switch the focus of my blog and begin to explore how cultural items such as art work and literature can be used to not only understand geographical processes, but to appreciate past and present cultures themselves. In order to illustrate this point I have chosen to look at the collapse of the Mayan Civilisation.

So who exactly were the Mayans?

The Mayans created a civilisation in Mesoamerica, which was a large region that we now refer to as Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. The ancestors of the Mayans had previously led a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, but by around 2000BC the civilisation had adopted agriculture as a way of life and heavy relied on it for their existence.  Many studies of Mayan society demonstrate its apparent complexity - particularly after 250AD where there is a marked rapid growth of a complex, stratified and prolific empire referred to as the ‘Classic Mayan Empire’. Their complexity is demonstrated by the development of trade networks that spanned Mesoamerica, expansive urban centres, the erection of intricate monumental stelae and strong advances in astronomy, mathematics and a written language. Yet, despite this, the Classic Mayan Empire seems to suddenly collapse at the peak of their cultural development between 750 and 900 A.D.

More information on the Mayans can be found at the following websites: 

http://www.localhistories.org/maya.html

http://authenticmaya.com/maya_art.htm

So why did their civilisation collapse?

There are two ways of looking at what might explain the collapse of the Classic Mayan Society. The first would be to analyse geographical data from the time. Many reasons for the collapse have been suggested, including overpopulation, deforestation, soil erosion, warfare and disease. However the most unambiguous evidence for their demise comes in the form of climate change. For instance, many sediment cores taken from lakes such as Lake Punta and the Cariaco Basin indicate distinctly dry periods that coincide with the collapse of the Mayan people. As a result, from the use of this first method of analysis, a broad consensus can be made that the presence of an abrupt shift in climate to more arid conditions was somehow responsible for the demise of the Mayan Civilisation (DeMenocal, 2001; Weiss and Bradley, 2001; Hodell, 2007). 

Whilst the first method of analysis has proven to be fairly conclusive, it is the second method that in my opinion gives a much more detailed account and therefore clearer depiction of what may have happened. The second method involves looking at existing cultural items from the time to build up a stronger picture of what society and daily life was really like. For example, archaeological remains, paintings and pottery all indicate the presence of a society that was highly reliant on agriculture. This was an agriculture that not only produced high yields of cereal but one that was heavily reliant on the use of a highly sophisticated irrigation system. Therefore the picture of the droughts now seems to make more sense in that if there was less rainfall, the crop harvests would have undoubtedly failed and the Mayan peoples starved, having devastating consequences. 

http://authenticmaya.com/maya_art.htm

http://www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-art.html

 The websites above give a more detailed approach towards Mayan art and artefacts. Below is a series of items that show the high reliance on agriculture and irrigation in Mayan society:

Mayan Well

Mayan Aqueduct

Mayan Pottery

Overall, I think that by looking at the case of the Mayans it has made me realise that when teaching geography itself it is not only important to explore the topic of culture, but it is equally important to realise that cultural items such as art, literature and archaeology can also reinforce knowledge of geographical processes and events. I will look at this interrelationship further in my next blog that discusses The Little Ice Age and suggests a good activity in the classroom to exemplify this point to students. 

Below are the references of journal papers that I looked at to discover explanations of why the Mayan Civilisation collapsed, there are many more in this field that can easily be found online:

DeMenocal. P., 200. Cultural responses to climate change during the Holocene. SCIENCE. Volume: 292: Pages: 667-673.

Hodell. D., 2007. Climate and cultural history of the north-eastern Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, Mexico. CLIMATE CHANGE. Volume: 83. Pages 215-240. 

Weiss and Bradley., 2001. What drives societal collapse? SCIENCE. Volume: 291. Pages 609-610.