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preface
Archaeological evidence suggests that by the late Classic period, the Maya lowlands were economically, socially, politically, and ecosystemally successful. In addition, over the centuries, the Maya lowlands experienced abundant rainfall and practiced a complex and efficient subsistence subsistence system, resulting in an unprecedented population boom. By the 8th century onwards, tens of millions of people lived in most of the Maya lowlands, with population densities comparable to some of the most densely populated countries in other parts of the world before the Industrial Revolution.
overpopulation
Continued population growth puts more pressure on an increasingly complex and fragile survival system. At the same time, productivity declines due to increased malnutrition and disease. The expansion of the ruling class, aristocracy and other privileged classes may mean that the number of non-food producers is increasing much faster than that of peasants and other food producers. Some possible ways to respond to crisis situations, such as increased investment in intensive agriculture and reservoir construction, could exacerbate human resource pressures, exacerbate the situation and exacerbate food production and distribution problems.
The pressures of population growth and their responses, such as increased agricultural intensification, have a direct impact on the natural environment. Soil erosion and deforestation prove that lowland environments are over-depleted over time. Due to the increased pressure on food production, people shorten the fallow time and clear the surrounding area of forests for agricultural production. But this will only lead to a decrease in soil fertility and ultimately further reduce productivity. As forests dwindle, so does the supply of firewood, which is essential for cooking rice and producing construction plaster.
At the same time, there was constant competition and conflict between city-states, and the carrying capacity of environmental and agricultural systems reached their limits. For millions of people in the Maya lowlands, poor agricultural harvests are causing more and more people to suffer from malnutrition or disease. Obviously, in this case, the population cannot grow sustainably, and any factor can lead to the collapse of the entire system.
war
The decline of the city-states of the Maya lowlands during the classical period was caused by numerous events that occurred in different order and timing. It is therefore unlikely that one or a combination of the same factors led to the decline of all Maya regions. There is also evidence that a number of different "fuses" may have triggered a chain of events in different regions.
One possible trigger is violence. There is little evidence of environmental degradation or malnutrition in the western lowlands, especially the city-state of Patex Baton, but archaeological evidence suggests that in the 8th century, warfare in the region was frequent and difficult to control. By around 800 AD, endemic violence had destroyed the socio-economic and political fabric of Patex Baton, rendering much of the city-state uninhabitable.
The collapse of the authority of the rulers after the end of the protracted Karakmul-Tikal war may have been the source of the violence. The Mayan kings lost their authority in internal struggles with their subordinate nobles. It is also possible that by the late classical period, military power was no longer monopolized by Mayan kings. In order to coordinate power relations, some rulers, such as Asuka Jaguar IV, king of the city-state of Yaschlan, granted some military rights to their subordinates.
Due to the growing internal problems of the Mayan city-states, coupled with other factors, ambitious subordinate nobles abused their power, waging wars against their neighbors and even rebelling against their former lords. In this case, the war can be seen as a cause of the collapse of the state, or even the collapse of the regime. As a result, the kingdoms were depopulated and lost control of their key resources and trade routes.
As people sought safety elsewhere to escape violence and war, populations continued to migrate, leading to a decline in the population of the kingdoms. In Patex Baton, the war continued and more and more areas were abandoned, shortening or even completely cutting off trade routes, putting pressure on vast areas of the Mayan lowlands.
Thus, some of the negative effects of the local war in Patex Pathorn have indeed spread to other countries. However, there is no evidence that the specific circumstances resulting from this violence also affected other parts of the Maya Lowlands. In fact, in much of the Maya, the growing wars were more likely a response to stress than a cause of political decline. In some lowland areas, overpopulation, destruction of agricultural land, scarcity of land resources and famine may lead to increased competition and more frequent fighting. But this is not the case everywhere, for the reasons that, as we have seen, there is little evidence of war in the southeastern region of the classical end and in other areas, such as northern Belize or coastal areas.
In the case of Copan, the initial defeat of Copán to Quirigua led to Kirigua's secession of Corpan, which led to a weakening of Copan's economic power and reputation, but eventually it regained its prosperity. An important point was that the economy recovered at the cost of delegating more power to subordinate nobles to ensure their loyalty to the king. Eventually, the decline of royal power led to the decline of central political power due to demographic and environmental pressures, and the gradual decentralization of politics in the city of Copan, the decline of the city of Copan was the result of the climax of this trend. But violence did happen. After this political decline, the city of Copan, which had been used for more than 2,000 years, was gradually abandoned within a century.
drought
Another trigger for the decline of Maya society in the classical period was drought, especially in areas that depended on rainfall for drinking water and agricultural production. The impact of drought on areas of the Maya lowlands should be inconsistent. First, the impact of drought on crops such as maize has a stronger correlation with the timing of precipitation than precipitation. If corn is dehydrated during critical periods of the growing cycle, such as germination and pollination, yields can be greatly reduced. During other growing periods, corn requires very little rain to be able to yield high yields.
Sun-Antunich, Belize
Sun-Antunich sits between a low ridge overlooking the fertile floodplains of the Mopan Gorge, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and developed late. As a tributary of the Belize River, the Mopan River provides an important route for trade and exchange with the Caribbean region. The interior of Sunantunich has extensive farmland ruins. After Theobert Merrel's visit to Sun-Antunich in 1905, several researchers visited the site for a brief period of archaeological research, including J. Eric Thompson (1938) and Linton Satterthwaite (1951).
An expedition by researchers at the University of Cambridge has excavated and confirmed parts of the site and revealed evidence that an earthquake at the end of the classical period caused damage to the site. From 1991 to 1997, Richard Leventhal and Wendy Ashmore collaborated to initiate a comprehensive archaeological research project, as well as archaeological excavations and studies of surrounding settlements. This work aims to define the political power of Suntunich in the late classical period and the end of the classical period and its integration into the surrounding region.
Sponsored by the Belize Tourism Development Project, other work was carried out by archaeologists, with Jaime Awe in charge of excavating and fortifying Castillo and Jason Yaeger in charge of excavating the royal residence building A-11. There are many indications that Suntunich is a second-class city in Naranjo, one of which is the similar layout of Sunantunich to Naranjo Group B, the so-called Castillo (meaning castle) is a large structure 39 meters (about 130 feet) high that occupies the central area of the place. The building is topped by multiple rooms with mosaics made of stucco and stone.
In 2002, archaeologist Avi excavated and found stele No. 1 with inscription, most likely inscribed with Sunantunich's hieroglyphics. The discovery that Livingthal and Ashmore had proposed that Sunantunich won independence from Naranjo in the late classical period underpinned their work. To the north of Castillo there is a public square on which four sculptural monuments stand, lined in the center of the square along the south side of building A-11. The three pillars are inscribed with readable dates, spanning the period from 820 BC to 849 AD during the end of the classical period. There are two roads near Monument Square, one of which leads to the B complex to the west and the other to the D complex to the southeast. There may be a reservoir next to the causeway to the west. A square house was an aristocratic palace in the late classical period.
Excavations in the surrounding areas of Chaa Creek, Chan Noohol and San Lorenzo have provided us with valuable data to understand the daily life of Maya communities and their relationship to the capitals of the city-states. Although paleoenvironmental evidence suggests that droughts have occurred in the past, these data alone do not allow an assessment of the impact of reduced rainfall on reduced maize yields. Of course, drought has a direct and predictable negative impact for people who depend on rainfall for drinking water.
For the Maya, this meant that drought, while not a key factor, had a serious impact on precipitation-dependent kingdoms such as Tikal and Karakmul, where the lack of adequate drinking water supply may have become a major problem during the destruction of the city-states of Patex Batun Copán and other city-states that enjoyed sufficient water bounty by river gifts. In such cases, severe drought could lead to famine population migration, increased violence, and even rebellion, directly weakening royal power.
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