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peninsula in cities that had flourished for hundreds of years.

Over the decades many causes have been proposed to explain this societal and demographic collapse, from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, or droughts to peasant revolt or civil war. Recent research has revealed that the collapse was probably the result of a combination of factors that snowballed to the point at which they overwhelmed classic Maya society. Ecological problems and warfare seem to have been foremost among these factors.

Evidence shows there were massive ecological problems in the Maya lowlands during the eighth and ninth centuries a.d., when deforestation appears to have caused sheet erosion in some regions; no doubt, changes to rainfall patterns occurred as well. Skeletal evidence indicates that dietary deficiency (reflecting both a growing population and an inadequate supply of food resources to support that growth) was an increasing problem by the beginning of the eighth century. The situation was critical by the ninth century.

There is now evidence that warfare was endemic in the Maya lowlands, especially during the second half of the classic period. In large part this was due to the fierce rivalry between polities, but it also seems that an increasing factor in the violence was competition over resources, including food. Evidence even suggests there were fortified maize fields by late in the classic period.

Some scholars have argued that the word collapse is, in fact, inappropriate for describing the momentous events of the ninth century in the Maya lowlands. It is clear that the century saw the demise of the ruling elites who had dominated Maya society for the previous 700 years or longer: stone monuments documenting royal histories were no longer carved, and some palaces were sacked. In certain sites, such as Tikal, there is also evidence of massive population loss, but whether this was due to warfare and such factors as endemic disease or to out-migration is not clear. What is clear, however, is that in many parts of the Maya lowlands, life continued. In Belize the effects of the “collapse” do not seem to have been so severe, but it is northern Yucatán where most of the dramatic postclassic developments took place.

In late-classic times there were many large cities in northern Yucatán. One of them, chichén itzá, would come to dominate most of the northern part of the peninsula for the terminal classic period, and some scholars extend this site’s dominance as far as a.d. 1200. After the decline of Chichén Itzá, politics in the northern peninsula were again factionalized until a new city arose to dominate the area. This was the city of Mayapan, which flourished between about a.d. 1280 and 1450. Following the collapse of Mayapan, which documentary sources of the sixteenth century ascribe to internal revolt, the peninsula again reverted to petty competing kingdoms. This was the situation that the Spaniards encountered when they arrived on the scene in the early 1500s. It was also a factor in the Spaniards’ conquest of Yucatán. It took the Spaniards over twenty years to gain a secure foothold in northern Yucatán, and one kingdom in the central part of the peninsula remained independent, practicing traditional Maya ceremonies (including human sacrifice) until 1697.

The heritage of classic Maya civilization is still very much alive. Approximately seven million Maya people still live in their ancient homeland, and two dozen Mayan languages continue to be spoken today. In some cases Maya people continue to practice traditional rituals, such as house dedication ceremonies, that are almost identical with those described in ancient hieroglyphic texts.

Peter Mathews

Maya Epigraphy

Among the many achievements of maya civilization was the development of a writing system. Maya writing, which was probably stimulated by the slightly earlier olmec script, was the most