Maya Collapse Response
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- Category: History
- Date Submitted: 04/08/2015 12:35 PM
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Justin Kelley
Maya Collapse Response
When working with networks of urban centers and their supporting areas, this includes community members whose livelihoods were grounded in food and utilitarian production from localized resources. Political ecology is ideally suited for addressing these issues. This discipline has emerged with influences from at least two major theoretical foundations: cultural and human ecology and political economy. Political ecology has emerged today as a diverse field and includes many approaches and perspectives. For the lowland Maya of the Classic period the term has been used as a way to understand how agrarian households managed important resources in the Copán Valley and also to describe the fundamental environmental concerns of Maya polities, if not to individual politicians.
The downward spiral began around 660 AD when they were faced with climate change resulting in much drier conditions, which fueled political competition, unrest, and war, leading to a collapse of the political system in 1000 AD. A prolonged drought between 1020 and 1100 AD is thought to have resulted in failed crops, famine, loss of life, and forced migration, which ultimately led to the fall of the Maya civilization. The effects of climate change are complex and play out over multiple time scales. Abrupt climate change is only part of the story. In addition to climate drying and drought, the preceding conditions stimulating societal complexity and population expansion helped set the stage for later stress on their societies and the fragmentation of political institutions.
Environmental degradation and ecological disaster played a significant role in the fall of the Classic Maya throughout their history of settlement, agricultural practices, and development. As detrimental as the ecological conditions were, there were societal problems that occurred in response to these conditions. The deforestation of the southern Maya lowlands, the erosion of soil, and the...
Maya Collapse Response
When working with networks of urban centers and their supporting areas, this includes community members whose livelihoods were grounded in food and utilitarian production from localized resources. Political ecology is ideally suited for addressing these issues. This discipline has emerged with influences from at least two major theoretical foundations: cultural and human ecology and political economy. Political ecology has emerged today as a diverse field and includes many approaches and perspectives. For the lowland Maya of the Classic period the term has been used as a way to understand how agrarian households managed important resources in the Copán Valley and also to describe the fundamental environmental concerns of Maya polities, if not to individual politicians.
The downward spiral began around 660 AD when they were faced with climate change resulting in much drier conditions, which fueled political competition, unrest, and war, leading to a collapse of the political system in 1000 AD. A prolonged drought between 1020 and 1100 AD is thought to have resulted in failed crops, famine, loss of life, and forced migration, which ultimately led to the fall of the Maya civilization. The effects of climate change are complex and play out over multiple time scales. Abrupt climate change is only part of the story. In addition to climate drying and drought, the preceding conditions stimulating societal complexity and population expansion helped set the stage for later stress on their societies and the fragmentation of political institutions.
Environmental degradation and ecological disaster played a significant role in the fall of the Classic Maya throughout their history of settlement, agricultural practices, and development. As detrimental as the ecological conditions were, there were societal problems that occurred in response to these conditions. The deforestation of the southern Maya lowlands, the erosion of soil, and the...