 merrie says: . . . . . to the collapse of the Mayan civilisation. . . . . including El Nino events and major decadal shifts in the North Atlantic Oscillation, as well as two or three decade-long variations in rainfall over many centuries.” “Why did the Maya civilisation suddenly come apart? Everyone who studies the Classic Maya collapse agrees that it was brought on by a combination of ecological, political, and sociological factors.” “When the great droughts of the eighth and ninth centuries came, Maya civilisation everywhere was under increasing stress.” “The drought was the final straw.” “The collapse did not come without turmoil and war.” Brian Fagan describes how the ruling class (the kings had divine powers, they were also shamans and there was a vast aristocracy and their fellow-travelers that the tightly regulated workers toiled to maintain) encouraged population growth beyond what the land could carry; . . . . . how the rulers enforced rigid farming practices which were supposed to increase food production and the ruler’s incomes but had the effect of undermining farm productivity and diminishing the quality of the poor soils of the area. When there were heavy rains the soil was washed away. In times of drought the soil blew away. More quotes from Brian Fagan: “The Maya collapse is a cautionary tale in the dangers of using technology and people power to expand the carrying capacity of tropical environments.” “Atmospheric circulation changes far from the Maya homeland delivered the coup de grace to rulers no longer able to control their own destinies because they had exhausted ... |
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