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The Maya civilization (/ ˈ m aɪ ə /) was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas .
The Mayans would peak as a civilization between 250 - 900 AD. This included complex cities, social life, and politics. Mayan civilization began to decline after this time period, and remaining Mayans would revert to more of a hunter-gatherer society. These remaining tribes would eventually be conquered by Europeans in the 1500s. [citation needed]
The social basis of the Classic Maya civilization was an extended political and economic network that reached throughout the Maya area and beyond into the greater Mesoamerican region. [54] The dominant Classic period polities were located in the central lowlands; during this period the southern highlands and northern lowlands can be considered ...
Ancient Mayan social classes included a complex relationship between elites, including kings and merchants, and commoners. [1] The highest ancient Mayan social class included a single centralized leader known as the king or Kʼuhul ajaw , who was most often a man but occasionally a woman. [ 1 ]
Satellite view of the Yucatán Peninsula. The Maya civilization occupied the Maya Region, a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern Central America; this area included the entire Yucatán Peninsula, and all of the territory now incorporated into the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. [4]
More than 80 different theories or variations of theories attempting to explain the Classic Maya collapse have been identified. [10] From climate change to deforestation to lack of action by Maya kings, there is no universally accepted collapse theory, although drought has gained momentum in the first quarter of the 21st century as the leading explanation, as more scientific studies are conducted.
Researchers studying sediment in Belize's Blue Hole have found that the weather may actually have been what caused the collapse of the Mayan civilization. Theories as to why a civilization as ...
Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Forest Civilization. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-53390-4. OCLC 51438896. Estrada-Belli, Francisco (2011). The First Maya Civilization: Ritual and Power Before the Classic Period. Abingdon, UK and New York, USA: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-42994-8. OCLC 614990197.