Changes

[[File:Olmec 1-58d925da3df78c5162d1ba64.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Figure 1. The Olmec's Olmecs became very influential on Mayan culture and formed perhaps the earliest complex society in the Mayan regions.]]Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the New World, the ancient Maya thrived and relatively rapidly disintegrated as a major political force. While the Maya, as a people, persisted long after the collapse of the Classical Maya civilizations, their cities were much reduced or abandoned by the time Columbus arrived.  Did climate change have an important role in this? This is a question researchers have long tried to answer and recent answers might provide some new insights.

The societies that were the precursors to the Maya experienced greater social complexity during the period between 2000 BC and 250 AD. Towns and soon cities such as Nakbe, Kaminaljuyu, and El-Mirador in Guatemala grew too large sizes. Agriculture focusing on maize, beans, and squash developed that helped lead to more long-term sedentary villages that also thrived through increased trade. Pottery and ceramic objects developed along with different forms of stone works, in particular, jade and obsidian works.  Communities began to form kingdoms and worship focused on the jaguar in different regions. Sacred kingship soon likely arose. The Olmecs in southern Mexico likely formed the first true complex society that would later influence the Classical Maya civilization as well as the Aztecs (Figure 1). The Olmecs spread throughout central and southern Mexico, while also spreading their influence south to Central America.<ref>For more on the pre-Classical Maya civilizations of Mexico and Central America, see: Estrada Belli, F. (2011). <i>The first Maya civilization: ritual and power before the classic period</i>. London ; New York: Routledge. </ref>

There is evidence of increased drought during or around 900 AD, with scholars often attributing the "collapse" period as being between 800-1000 AD. The Yucatecan lake sediment cores show very severe droughts that not only meant less rainfall , but the thin soils that Maya agriculture were was dependent on were particularly vulnerable to sudden change as they were also relatively less fertile. Tree ring data and climate modeling have also been conducted, helping to show that there is are multiple lines of evidence that likely drought occurred.  In fact, in the northern hemisphere at around 800-1000 AD, increasing cold temperature are is evident. Those colder temperatures would have had the effect of creating more drier conditions to the south in Mexico and Central America.<ref>For more on the role of climate in this collapse, see: Hodell, D. A., Curtis, J. H., & Brenner, M. (1995). Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. <i>Nature</i>, 375(6530), 391–394.</ref>

More recently, more precise information on isotopic changes in sediments has allowed a more direct quantification on how much rainfall had to change to lead to the collapse of the Maya. Recent work has shown that between 41% and 54% (with intervals of up to 70%) of rainfall reduction in the Mayan regions likely occurred. In other words, reduction in rainfall was drastic , and there was an accompanied accompanying decline in humidity, which likely led to more rapid drying with rainfall that fell.<ref>For more on the change in rainfall and how much this can be quantified to be, see: Evans, N. P., Bauska, T. K., Gázquez-Sánchez, F., Brenner, M., Curtis, J. H., & Hodell, D. A. (2018). Quantification of drought during the collapse of the classic Maya civilization. <i>Science</i>, 361(6401), 498–501.</ref>

In fact, relative Relative to today, the region the Maya occupied was very different. It had been assumed the Maya created cities within jungles. However, the regions the Maya occupied were often drier, seasonally wet places that had cyclical rains that the Maya likely increasingly became dependent on. Only later after the cities were abandoned , they became jungles. That pattern of climate began to change between 800-1000 AD, which likely disrupted the agricultural system the Maya depended on. The agricultural system, composed of canals, terracing, raised fields, and other systems began not to not be sustainable relative to the new, emergent climate. Wider environmental decline may have accompanied climatic change that affected the success of agriculture, such as a decline in the complex agricultural system created.<ref>For more on wider environmental change, including the ecology, see: Kuil, L., Carr, G., Viglione, A., Prskawetz, A., & Blöschl, G. (2016). Conceptualizing socio-hydrological drought processes: The case of the Maya collapse: Socio-Hydrological Drought Processes. <i>Water Resources Research</i>, 52(8), 6222–6242. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR018298 </ref>

Although the so-called "Classic Maya Collapse" has long fascinated scholars, the truth is the Maya never really disappeared. In fact, Maya cultures continue to this day. However, after the Classic period, cultures prior to before the arrival of Columbus were much reduced. The northern lowlands and highlands began to take more importance in later Maya societies. Mayan cities continued , and the last city did not fall until 1697, when the Spanish conquered the last holdout independent Mayan city.  Nevertheless, changes after the Classical Maya period indicate that Mayan society did change drastically and it is evident that the environment and climate in Central America and southern Mexico was were likely very different than today. Changes that occurred meant that a system that had been created to be adapted to the climate was no longer suitable, leading to a change that meant Mayan societies became smaller-scale and adapted to very different climate and environmental conditions. <div class="portal" style="width:85%;"> ====Related DailyHistory.org Articles====*[[How did climate change influence Medieval and Early Modern Europe?]]*[[How did climate change influence the rise of ancient Egypt?]]*[[How Was Science Practiced in Ancient Babylon?]]*[[How did climate change influence ancient Chinese societies?]]*[[What Caused the Rise of Agriculture?]]*[[How Were the Assyrians able to Conquer the Ancient Near East]]</div>

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