The Ancient Maya

The Maya civilization dates back 4,000 years to 2000 BCE (see chart), known as the Preclassic or Formative period. By the Late Preclassic period (~300 BCE), regional centers had formed in the southern Maya lowlands.

The Classic period (250 CE to 900 CE) is considered the height of the Maya civilization, characterized by great accomplishments like

• distinctive writing and calendric systems
• polychrome ceramics
• corbelled vault architecture
• enormous pyramids

Domesticating the Maya forest

The Maya hierarchy sponsored scholars who

• maintained astronomical reckonings
• established sophisticated mathematics
• passed down written texts

They documented events on stone, bark books, and decorated pottery that offer a window into ancient times.

Indeed, the Spanish records, along with the indigenous Yucatecan Maya speakers numbering in the millions today, provide threads that link the contemporary Maya to their glorious past.

Throughout the Maya expansions and changes, farmers fueled the developments. Agriculture sustained the remarkable growth of the Classic era and survived the civic upheaval of the Collapse.

The Maya practiced a traditional form of land use built on time-honored relationships to their environment that was so ingrained that the colonial Spanish legislated against it. These strategies, known as the Maya forest garden and milpa cycle, endure today among the Maya. Given this resilience, it is hard to imagine that these traditional farming practices were the source of environmental destruction.

Collapse

What followed the Classic period, however, is the “mysterious” collapse of the Maya in what is called the Terminal Classic period (900 to 1000 CE). The monumental city centers of the southern lowlands were neglected while the centers of the north began to grow.

While there is debate about the nature of the Maya collapse, there is little doubt that the extravagance of the Classic period resulted in warfare and failure of the elite to govern. Even so, the continuity of the Maya language, arts, writing, and calendar into the Postclassic, especially in the northern Yucatan, suggests a more complex set of causes.

The Maya have been accused of overpopulating and mismanaging the environment and natural resources. These reasons top the list of causes of the collapse, yet they likely relate more to our contemporary inability to domesticate the tropics than what might have happened in the ancient past.

The Maya adaptation to the tropical forest began more than 4,000 years ago and was the foundation of the civilization that flourished for at least 1,000 years. We see this legacy in the traditional farmers of today.