Mayan Civilization the Disappearance of Term Paper

This drought was explicated as a "[s]olar activity -- including varying sunspot numbers and the brightness of the sun -- is recorded in the abundance of cosmic ray -- produced radioactive carbon-14 preserved in tree rings. Solar activity also varies in a "bicentennial oscillation" with a period variously reported to be between 206 and 208 years." This extraordinary occurrence also led to extreme ramifications, such as the sudden scarcity of the basic needs, particular food and water supply, of the people. Without these essential needs, Mayan civilization ceased to thrive and survive, eventually resulting to its end as its people died due to the "megadrought."

Another perspective offered about the sudden disappearance of the Mayan civilization was that instead of a drought, a probable cause to the vanishing of the civilization was due to the occurrence of a great diaspora, an internal collapse of Mayan culture and society due to an ever-expanding population within a limited territory. Thus, Mayans went over other territories, expanded, and later assimilated the Mayan culture with that of other cultures they had integrated with. This event was considered by DeMallie (1996) a "process of divergence," wherein each Mayan member had brought with him/her aspects of their great culture and had integrated with other cultures, perpetuating a hybrid kind of Mayan culture (402). This theory, like the climate change theory, was plausible in that it described a natural occurrence among civilizations, wherein rapid population growth is almost always associated with territorial expansion. However, in the case of Mayan society, a territorial expansion meant assimilating themselves with other cultures as well, losing the uniqueness of the Mayan culture in the process.

Indeed, this theory was considered as plausible with new evidence showing how 'links' to the original Mayan civilization was seen in later Mesoamerican and south American cultures. According to Sabloff (1996), "scholars found that there was a significant demographic shift from south to north around AD 800 ... ecological disasters coupled with political breakdowns ... led to widespread population loss due to increased mortality and emigration" (415). Sabloff's discourse highlighted the role that a socio-cultural diaspora played in explaining the sudden disappearance of the Mayan civilization, and its perpetuation through hybrid forms of later cultures that emerged after the flourishing of the Mayan civilization.

Bibliography

DeMallie, R. (1996). North American Indian anthropology: essays on society and culture. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.

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Kerr, R. (2001). "A…