The great Maya ‘collapse’ debate continues…
Posted On: Jul 31st, 2015 at 18:35
Mexico
I absolutely agree with Anabel Ford’s views that the Maya did not collapse because of deforestation or overpopulation, or even “collapse” in the first place. The Maya were far too clever for such dramatic failures, not to mention their environment was rich with forests and space to live. If you think about it, the idea just doesn’t even pass the “common sense” test. Too often we hear the repeated, almost convenient, theory that cultures died out because of “climate change” but this idea can never be proven at all, and let me make a supposition to provide evidence why it cannot be proven:
Let’s assume there is climate change and that can be proven in the archaeological record. Let’s also assume at this same time the culture “died out”, or disappeared. Thus, that culture must have died out because of climate change, right? Wrong!
That culture may have been under threat from disease, infant mortality, frequent attacks by other cultures nearby, and many other reasons why people may decide to pack up and leave, or even die off completely.
Basically, climate change models for the demise of any culture can never be proven. Cultures generally disappear because of many different factors occurring at once, as most cultures tend to be more than adequately capable of coping with single environmental changes.
