Mayan People Essay

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Mayan People

The mystery for the collapse of the Mayan civilization has been a major focus for researchers in the field of archaeology for many years. What happened to Mayan people is one mystery that many people have been questioning about; they wondered how such a strong and a stable civilization which had flourished for about twenty-seven hundred years disappear without rational and clear explanation. However, there are different theories that could possibly explain what truly happened to Mayan. These include; drought and climate changes which led to demise of Mayan culture, the warfare from the neighboring cities that caused the Mayans to be become extinct, the ecological collapse theory and many others (Hill, 2012). The paper will discuss the mystery of the Mayan people while analyzing the theories explaining their mystery.

(a) Environmental Change Theory:

Studies show that, during the Mayan era, the climate change was unfavorable; there was an increased temperature that caused precipitation to dwindle causing scarcity in water. The Mayan was dependent on basic agriculture, supplemented by fishing and hunting: however, they found it difficult to practice food cropping because the ground dried up. Fishing and hunting were preferred because they were very vulnerable to floods, droughts and to any change in the environment which affected the food supply.

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Conversely, the Mayan people majorly depended on rain for drinking purposes, and with lack of rainfall many of the people became dehydrated. According to the scientists Eelco Rohling and Martin Medina-Elizalde, they both supposed that changes in climate affected the rainfall leading to droughts. Although, other scientist believed that the mysterious disappearance of the Mayan civilization was as a result of the invaders from cities who overpowered Mayans.

(b) The Famine Theory

The pre-classic Maya majorly practiced subsistence agriculture on small plots where they planted corn and beans. In addition, they practiced basic fishing, and as their civilization advanced, their population grew much larger as opposed to what could be fed by the local production. The improved agricultural techniques which include draining wetlands for planting improved trade, however, the large population in cities put a greater strain on food production. As a result, according to the scientist Medina-Elizalde, he argued that famine or any other agricultural calamity affecting basic crops could without doubt have caused the collapse of the ancient Maya (Thompson, Thompson & Lo-pez, 2007).

The ecological collapse theory is the best theory to explain the….....

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