Prior to the year 800 CE, the Mayan Empire was a very powerful part of the Mesoamerica region. Cities were formed over the previous centuries and they were not only inhabited, civilization seemed to thrive in the area during that time. This included a population that was quite extensive for the civilization and the area where it resided. For some unknown reason, however, the Mayan civilization suddenly came to its end and it did so in a very short amount of time.
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The time in which the Mayan civilization crumbled and fell is not left to the imagination. They were steeped in the development of calendars and were very accurate in their keeping of dates. In the ninth century, there was still a thriving culture in the area, although the glyphs of the time suddenly stopped, which indicates that the civilization came to an end at that time as well.
The end of the Mayan civilization has been of interest to many individuals, as it seems to be without precedent and there is no real way to determine why it occurred. Some people look to this mystery because of the fact that it seemingly can't be solved but other people may look at it because they are fearful that it may happen to us as a culture again.
Although it cannot be said with any degree of certainty why the Mayan culture disappeared so suddenly, there are some theories that may lead to a logical explanation. Here are some of the more common theories that have gained ground in recent years.
War - At one time, the Mayan culture was considered to be a very peaceful people but in reality, they were warlike and often fought with neighboring tribes, as well as fighting among themselves. It was not uncommon for neighboring cities within the Mayan Empire to fight against each other, invade each other and even to destroy the culture of the city. It is quite possible that a war, along with all of the issues that go along with it could have led to the downfall of the Mayan Empire. If a great war would have occurred during the time, it certainly could have had that effect.
Cataclysm - Another theory, which has lost a lot of its merit, is the possibility that the Mayans ceased to exist as a civilization because of some cataclysmic event. There is no evidence of such an event, which could have included volcanic eruptions or earthquakes but those types of issues could certainly lead to the downfall of a civilization. The reason why the cataclysm theory is greatly discarded is because the dissipation of the Mayan Empire did not occur suddenly. In fact, there were some cities that continued to remain for up to 200 years, once the decline began.
Famine - As we reviewed in the history of the Mayan people, the area not only took advantage of hunting and gathering, they also began to develop extensive architectural techniques. This included techniques that are largely hard on the environment, such as slash and burn and the draining of wetlands for irrigation. As the civilization continued to grow, there may have been a greater need for the development of agriculture, and it may have outpaced the ability to grow food for the civilization. If a famine occurred, it could have easily caused the civilization of the area to dissipate and leave the cities in order to find food.
Environment - Most of us are familiar with environmental issues, as they are widely talked about on the news today. The fact of the matter is, however, environmental change is nothing new and it has occurred many times over the course of human history. The environmental change may not have been felt in other parts of the world, but if a flood, drought or any severe change affected the area of Mesoamerica, it could easily have caused the Mayan people to leave their cities. Environmental change carries many problems along with it, including the possibility for famine, disease and even an increased risk for warfare.
Inner fighting - Like today, the population in many of the major Mayan cities was outpacing its ability to keep up with the load. When this takes place, it is not unusual for civil problems to occur and for fighting to take place among the residents. This is especially the case if there was not enough food available or if there were issues associated with the government of the time. The Mayan Empire could well have fallen due to the fact that they were a victim of their own strife and fighting among the residents of individual cities.
These are only a few of the possible explanations as to why the Mayan Empire may have fallen so suddenly and so severely. What is known, however, is that the cities were abandoned and for some reason or another, it happened in a relatively short amount of time.
Some individuals look to a different reason that may be beyond the scope of what is typically seen within any known civilization. After all, the Mayan people were quite advanced and there are some individuals who believe that they were in regular contact with aliens from another world. Although this may be far-fetched, there are those that believe that it had a direct connection with the downfall of the Mayan Empire.
It may also be that they simply fell due to their own barbarity. The Mayan people were violent as a group, not only going to war as was discussed but also in various forms of human torture and sacrifice for religious purposes. These can easily cause difficulties that would lead to the downfall of the civilization if they were ongoing and the common people stood up against it.
Quite simply, there is no clear reason why the Mayan Empire came to an end. There is plenty of speculation, however, and with a little bit of research, you may uncover some additional speculation that is more to your liking. For now, it will continue to remain a mystery but it is one that will also continue to be studied until a satisfactory answer is found.
The Mayan civilization is known to be quite advanced, but many people look beyond some of the specific advancements that they made during the time. In this chapter, we are going to review 2 of the ways that the Mayan culture was advanced and how it was quite significant, compared to the other cultures of the surrounding area. Looking at this information can easily show us how they were able to accomplish what they did during the amount of time that they existed as a civilization.
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The Mayan Use of Mathematics
In our common understanding of mathematics, there are 10 digits that represent a large number of numbers. This is the mathematical system that we are most familiar with and it is one that most of us consider to be the same that is used among many cultures. The Mayan people, however, were able to utilize a much simpler numerical system but were still able to incorporate large numbers into their use of mathematics as well. This system made the use of only three symbols, including a bar, a dot and another symbol (such as a shell), which stood for zero or the completion of the number.
There were similarities to the way that they used mathematics and we use mathematics today. Like us, they used what are known as place values. In our mathematical system, a place value would be a digit that is separating the whole number from decimals or could be a comma, which separates three digits when dealing with very large numbers. The use of these values in Mayan mathematics greatly extended their abilities to deal with large numbers.
There were also some differences in the way that the Mayan culture used mathematics. One of the differences is that they used what is known as a base 20. In essence, this means that the number that is second in line would have a value of 20, rather than having a value of 10, as is the case in our own mathematical system. Another difference is that the place values were arranged in a vertical manner, rather than being arranged horizontally.
The fact that the Mayans were advanced in mathematics at this time may seem rather insignificant, but it is actually quite important to understand. They were a very ancient culture, and during the same time, individuals who were considered to be very advanced in Europe were still using the Roman numeral system, which was quite archaic. In addition, the fact that the Mayan culture could take part in significant mathematical equations helped to advance their ability to develop calendars and to study the movement of the stars and planets, which they did with great precision.
The Development of the Mayan Calendar
Another, significant achievement of the Mayan culture is their use of a calendar system. This is something that many of us are familiar with at this time, because there was talk of the "end of the world", due to the Mayan calendar supposedly running out in 2012. That is something that will be discussed in a further chapter of this book, but in this chapter, we are going to discuss the development of the Mayan calendar and how significant it was for its day.
Although many people consider the Mayan calendar to be a single unit, the fact of the matter is, there was an entire system of Mayan calendars, which is how they consider the passing of time, as well as keeping track of when they should plant seeds, offer sacrifices and celebrate their holidays.
It is interesting to note that the series of Mayan calendars, some of which are still loosely used to this day, were not an original development of the Mayan civilization. What they did do, however, is to put their own spin on those calendars and to improve them in many ways.
The basic Mayan calendar involves a number of different cycles, each of which represent a certain amount of time. The Tzolkin was a calendar with the 260 day time period and it was combined with a calendar that had 365 days in order to form the Haab'. The cycle of the Haab' would continue 52 times and this was make up what is known as the calendar round. It is interesting to note that there are groups still in existence in the Guatemalan highlands that use the calendar round.
An additional calendar was used that is known as the long count, and it had the purpose of identifying events and how they corresponded with each other. This calendar is based mainly on mythological background, and it has a starting date that is the equivalent to August 11, 3114 B.C.E. (Gregorian calendar) or September 6 of the same year (Julian calendar). As is the case with many calendars of that day, it corresponded with the lunar phase and the rising of Venus as the morning or evening star.
These calendars were used for a variety of purposes, including for astrological means. It is also quite possible that these calendars were used as a way to time warfare according to astrological markings as well. Additional cycles were also counted according to the Mayan artifacts that are available, although there is less information to support the specifics of those calendars.
The Mayans paid close attention to the passage of time and they often celebrated calendar cycles with the erection of monuments, such as pyramids. The pyramids found in Yaxha and Tikal are examples of this fact. They also use the calendars to determine their own mythological religious backing, which included other worlds that existed before the current world with humans.
The cycle of Mayan calendars was relatively short-lived. The calendar round would last for 52 years, which was equal to 18,980 days. It would be impossible to use this form of dating to record history accurately, so they often used the Long Count calendar when recording information that may have lasted more than a lifetime. Of course, the Mayans were not well known for accurately recording history and in many cases, a spin was put on it to make it possible for the common people to view Kings as Gods.
The Mayan calendar is also something that recently came into public view. It was thought, at the time, that the dates on the Mayan calendar would end on December 21, 2012. This raised a considerable amount of speculation that the end of the world could occur on that day. Of course, we have passed that date considerably, but there is still some speculation that the cycles known by the Mayans may have something to do with the ultimate passing of time as well. This information is for the reviewed in chapter 11 of this book.