Whatever happened to the Mayans??

Answer 1

The Mayan Civilization's downfall is a real warning to us today -

With Respect to their downfall it is believed the unrelenting war was the largest factor. This was probably fermented by their use of violence and human sacrifice in all manner of rituals, religious and other.

Another factor was overexploitation of the rain-forest ecosystem, on which the Maya depended for food. University of Arizona archaeologist T. Patrick Culbert says pollen recovered from underground debris shows clearly that "there was almost no tropical forest left."

Water shortages might have played a role in the collapse as well: University of Cincinnati archaeologist Vernon Scarborough has found evidence of sophisticated reservoir systems in Tikal and other landlocked Maya cities (some of the settlements newly discovered this week also have reservoirs). Since those cities depended on stored rainfall during the four dry months of the year, they would have been extremely vulnerable to a prolonged drought.

Overpopulation was another problem. On the basis of data collected from about 20 sites, Culbert estimates that there were as many as 200 people per sq km in the southern lowlands of Central America. Says Culbert: "This is an astonishingly high figure; it ranks up there with the most heavily populated parts of the pre-industrial world. And the north may have been even more densely populated."

One inevitable consequence of overpopulation and a disintegrating agricultural system would be malnutrition--and in fact, some researchers are beginning to find preliminary evidence of undernourishment in children's skeletons from the late Classic period. Given all the stresses on Maya society, says Culbert, what ultimately sent it over the edge "could have been something totally trivial--two bad hurricane seasons, say, or a crazy king. An enormously strained system like this could have been pushed over in a million ways."

Answer 2

They are still around -in a more 'watered down 'state-assimilated into the larger population. Civilizations may not last , but I think the DNA has been passed on , mixed with the nearest population they were forced to move next to.

Answer 3

Eaten by the Aztecs at one of their temples just after the party with the Conquistadors.

Answer 4

they just dissapeared. No one really knows. But they are out there.

Answer 5

totally true athena