People today often wonder what happened to great and legendary civilizations, such as the Maya, that seem to simply disappear; leaving only their cities, temples, and a few scattered traces behind. It’s a common misconception that the Maya people disappeared. The Maya are still around, and in fact still live in many parts of Mesoamerica. The mystery that surrounds the Maya is why so many of their cities were abandoned and the population depleted in a relatively short amount of time. There have been various hypotheses on what caused the collapse of the Maya, ranging from warfare to environmental problems. There has been no clear answer, but many academics believe it may have been a combination of factors that contributed to the fall of the Maya
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Webster gives a list of possible explanations for the breakdown of power of the Maya elite. He lists such causes as “peasant revolts, internal warfare, foreign invasion, and disruption of trade networks” (Webster 2002:218) for the fall of the Maya elite. According to Webster, J.E.S Thompson was the man who really pushed the theory of the peasant revolts. Thompson uses the buildings as his primary evidence to support this theory. In order to build anything labor is required. Maya sites are littered with temples and often times the Maya would build over existing structures.
All of the monumental works in the Maya region had to be built “using human muscle and without the benefit of metal tools or complex machines” (Webster 2002:220). Thompson speculates the frequent demand for manual labor to build the monumental works became to much for the common Maya people and they decided to revolt. With all that had been collected up to Thompson’s time, the peasant revolt theory seemed likely as “it explained the apparent abrupt collapse of elite activities…, as well as the unfinished buildings found at some centers” (Webster …show more content…
As Willey and Shimkin stated in their article The Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization in the Southern Lowlands: A symposium Summary Statement, “rising socio-political competition between centers…and nascent militarism generated problems” for the Maya (1971:1). The reason for the increased pressures between Maya cities could have stemmed from an increase need for resources or the desire for power and wealth. In any case, the rise in violence and war could have led to other problems, such as food shortage and trade disruption, which might have also contributed to the fall of the Classic Maya civilization. It can be argued that there is evidence that either inner problems or outer conflict could have caused the collapse, but it can also be reasoned that both together were the source of the
Webster gives a list of possible explanations for the breakdown of power of the Maya elite. He lists such causes as “peasant revolts, internal warfare, foreign invasion, and disruption of trade networks” (Webster 2002:218) for the fall of the Maya elite. According to Webster, J.E.S Thompson was the man who really pushed the theory of the peasant revolts. Thompson uses the buildings as his primary evidence to support this theory. In order to build anything labor is required. Maya sites are littered with temples and often times the Maya would build over existing structures.
All of the monumental works in the Maya region had to be built “using human muscle and without the benefit of metal tools or complex machines” (Webster 2002:220). Thompson speculates the frequent demand for manual labor to build the monumental works became to much for the common Maya people and they decided to revolt. With all that had been collected up to Thompson’s time, the peasant revolt theory seemed likely as “it explained the apparent abrupt collapse of elite activities…, as well as the unfinished buildings found at some centers” (Webster …show more content…
As Willey and Shimkin stated in their article The Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization in the Southern Lowlands: A symposium Summary Statement, “rising socio-political competition between centers…and nascent militarism generated problems” for the Maya (1971:1). The reason for the increased pressures between Maya cities could have stemmed from an increase need for resources or the desire for power and wealth. In any case, the rise in violence and war could have led to other problems, such as food shortage and trade disruption, which might have also contributed to the fall of the Classic Maya civilization. It can be argued that there is evidence that either inner problems or outer conflict could have caused the collapse, but it can also be reasoned that both together were the source of the