As the stature of the holy lords diminished, their complex traditions of rituals and ceremonies dissolved into chaos. Other Maya scholars argue that constant warfare among competing city-states led the complicated military, family (by marriage) and trade alliances between them to break down, along with the traditional system of dynastic power. Some believe that by the ninth century the Maya had exhausted the environment around them to the point that it could no longer sustain a very large population. The reason for this mysterious decline is unknown, though scholars have developed several competing theories. 900, Maya civilization in that region had collapsed. One by one, the Classic cities in the southern lowlands were abandoned, and by A.D.

The environment also held other treasures for the Maya, including jade, quetzal feathers (used to decorate the elaborate costumes of Maya nobility) and marine shells, which were used as trumpets in ceremonies and warfare.ДЇrom the late eighth through the end of the ninth century, something unknown happened to shake the Maya civilization to its foundations. Though foreign invaders were disappointed by the regionвЂ™s relative lack of silver and gold, the Maya took advantage of the areaвЂ™s many natural resources, including limestone (for construction), the volcanic rock obsidian (for tools and weapons) and salt. (This was the case for the Teotihuacan of highland Mexico, contemporaries of the Classic Maya.) In the southern Maya lowlands, however, there were few navigable rivers for trade and transport, as well as no obvious need for an irrigation system.Д«y the late 20th century, researchers had concluded that the climate of the lowlands was in fact quite environmentally diverse. Traditionally, ancient peoples had flourished in drier climates, where the centralized management of water resources (through irrigation and other techniques) formed the basis of society. One of the many intriguing things about the Maya was their ability to build a great civilization in a tropical rainforest climate. Guided by their religious ritual, the Maya also made significant advances in mathematics and astronomy, including the use of the zero and the development of complex calendar systems like the Calendar Round, based on 365 days, and later, the Long Count Calendar, designed to last over 5,000 years. These structures have earned the Maya their reputation as the great artists of Mesoamerica. The Classic Maya built many of their temples and palaces in a stepped pyramid shape, decorating them with elaborate reliefs and inscriptions. They were thought to serve as mediators between the gods and people on earth, and performed the elaborate religious ceremonies and rituals so important to the Maya culture. At the top of Maya society were the kings, or вЂњkuhul ajawвЂќ (holy lords), who claimed to be related to gods and followed a hereditary succession. The Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped various gods related to nature, including the gods of the sun, the moon, rain and corn. Why More and More Shipwrecks Are Being Discovered This concentration showed that the Maya remained relatively secure from invasion by other Mesoamerican peoples. Unlike other scatteredВ IndigenousВ populations of Mesoamerica, the Maya were centered in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala Belize and parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and ChiapasВ and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. The Maya civilization was one of the most dominant Indigenous societies of Mesoamerica (a term used to describe Mexico and Central America before the 16th century Spanish conquest). 900, however, and since the 19th century scholars have debated what might have caused this dramatic decline. Most of the great stone cities of the Maya were abandoned by A.D. The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork. The Maya Empire, centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala, reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D.

Cities of Stone: The Classic Maya, A.D.

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