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The Rise and Fall of the Maya Culture
Preclassic period B.C. 2000 - A.D. 300
The first people who wandered from Asia to the American continent have possibly crossed the Bering Strait about 12 000 years ago. With time clusters of people settled in Central America, Mesoamerica is the archaeological name for the countries stretching from central Mexico to Honduras. Today it includes five countries, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, El Salvador and Belize.
The Maya and Olmec cultures date back to B.C. 2000 - 1500. Corn was one of the first crops they cultivated. Corn is also part of the Mayan mythology through the stroy of Popol Vuh.
Classic period A.D. 300 - 900
The classic period can be divided into Early Classic (A.D. 300-600) and Late Classic (A.D. 600-900) periods
Early Classic period A.D. 300 - 600
From A.D. 300 to 600 the Classic period civilization reached its peak of development with many large and small cities, beautiful stone monuments, temples decorated with magnificent art, and advanced systems of writing, calendars, and science. The cities were independent city-states with their own rulers. From A.D. 250, Tikal was one of the most powerful Maya centers.
The whole Maya area was inhabited by large populations - probably millions - many times higher than the amounts of today. The Maya adapted well to the challenging rainforest environment by using different cultivation techniques. By imitating the rainforest they were able to support a large population, unlike today were modern techniques are destroying the rainforest.
With the opening up of the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphs, researchers have begun to realise that after all the Maya were not peaceful people, but highly militaristic.
Temple in Tikal, covered by the jungle
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Late Classic period A.D. 600 - 900
The causes of the end of the Classic Maya civilization are one of the oldest mysteries of archaeology. For over a thousand years the Classic period cities have stood in ruins covered by the jungles. The mystery of how and why this great civilization disappeared has inspired the imagination of the public to come up with many explanations. These have included diseases, earthquakes, droughts, invasions, moral decline, and other causes.
Vanderbilt University has been involved in finding the answer to these questions for several years. Professor Arthur Demarestīs research has proven that the behaviour of the Maya was similar to other cultures. The reason for the collapse came from the people itself. The rulers have desired more power, wealth and land.
The collapse in the Pasion region was the earliest and most sudden. Dos Pilas was attacked in 761 and the inhabitants tried to protect themselves by building defensive walls around the palace area (refer to picture). The decline and change in the culture was slow and it moved on during to other regions over several decades. In about A.D. 800, Cancuen was also attacked. The researchers have found similar defensive walls and signs of an abrupt ending at Cancuen as at Dos Pilas.
Dos Pilas in 761 AD under attack and before the attack
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Postclassic period A.D. 900 - 1500
The survivors of the attacks moved north, where some centers became important, such as Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza was later also abandoned and Mayapan became the leading power. The Maya culture started to decline and change. For example, stelas erected were no longer, writing ended, the calendar lost meaning and water systems were no longer taken care of. Researches have proven that the collapse was a complex process, like the decline of the Roman Empire, it was not a sudden event or catastrophe, which very commonly is believed. The process spanned over 300 years and involved different changes in each different region of the vast area of the Maya lowlands. The very final blow was the arrival of the Spaniards in the 1500īs.
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