Essay on Did the Mayan Civilization Collapse as a Result...

Ever since the collapse of the once powerful Maya civilization, people have been trying to find out what caused it. Authors of the article, “Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization”, which include Gerald Haug, Detlef Gà ¼nther, Larry Peterson, Daniel Sigman, Konrad Hughen, and Beat Aeschlimann propose a theory that the Mayans collapsed because of an extended dry period between 760 and 910 A.D. These scientists set out find the answer as to why the Maya civilization collapsed. This question is fairly popular and is often times answered by an extended drought, but they wanted to find geologic evidence of what the climate was like in the same time period hoping that there is an obvious link between the two. This question†¦show more content†¦This mega drought matched up with the Lake Chichancanab sediment record, giving the authors more confidence in their results. They did this for multiple depths of low Ti content on the sediment cores that resulted in the dates of 910, 860, 810, and 760 A.D.. The intervals between these drought periods were all within approximately 40 to 47 years which also is supported in the Lake Chichancanab sediment record. Beginning with the drought in 760 A.D., a drying trend appeared for approximately the next 40 years until a more severe drought occurred at approximately 810 A.D. Another major drought occurred at roughly 860 A.D. ba sed on very low Ti content results. This was finally capped of with another sever drought in 910 A.D. which lasted roughly 6 years. After finding these results, the authors linked the growth and collapse of the Maya civilization directly to the climatic results they found. Although the Cariaco can not totally explain the relationship between climate conditions and the Maya collapse, it still supports that the changes in rainfall was an important factor. They first suggest that the enlargement of the Maya civilization between 550 and 750 A.D. was due to relatively wet conditions. The Ti concentrations are much higher right before the Terminal Classic Collapse period. Not only were they expanding, but they were expanding to the limit of what the environment can sustain making them largely susceptible to drought. Between 750 and 950 A.D., theShow MoreRelatedIs The Classic Mayan Civilization?1558 Words   |  7 Pagesof Anthropology, a collapse is defined as â€Å"†¦a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economical/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time.â € (AOC) With Mr. Tainter’s definition of collapse, I will be focusing on one specific civilization, what led to their falling as a society and elaborate on some theories as to why collapses may occur. The development that I am going to be discussing is the Classic Mayan civilization. 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