Yeah, now the one point I like to make is the Mayan "state/imperial civilization" may have collapsed, in that after the Classic and Post-Classic Maya era they stopped building the sprawling pyramids, cities, and monuments.
Mayan civilization
per se never ended. By that, I mean, Dennis & Barbara Tedlock worked with Mayan priests/daykeepers in the 20th century who were still actively using the Mayan calendar (hint: they were not as freaked out about 2012 as Westerners were, as they knew the Long Count is not their longest system of timekeeping ... but I digress). Also, many of them could still read the Mayan glyphic system of writing, in fact, it was through working with them that archaeologists figured out the written Mayan language is in fact more logographic/syllabic than hieroglyphic (like ancient Egyptian) and a transcription of the spoken Mayan they are still using today.
They are still using some cultural ceremonies and rituals that go back to the Classic era. The Maya never "vanished". They just stopped building massive complexes.
http://www.history.com/news/what-caused ... -new-cluesScientists have long wondered what exactly happened in the ninth century A.D., when the flourishing Maya civilization in Mesoamerica fell into what would be a permanent decline, its once-great cities reclaimed by jungle. More recent research revealed the Maya also experienced an earlier collapse, in the second century, about which scientists know even less. In a new study, based on the largest set of radiocarbon dates ever obtained from a single Maya site, a team of researchers argues that both collapses were preceded by similar patterns, as waves of social instability, warfare and political crises swept over the civilization and caused it to deteriorate.
[snip][end]
Ecological causes (deforestation, causing more localized climate change) were central, but I would also note that warning about "social instability, warfare, and political crises".
Seems to me other human empires (the Romans, for example) kind of had the same problem.
Yeah, dunno, could relate to current events, too.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
