Mayans' the Abrupt and Mysterious Disappearance of

¶ … Mayans' The abrupt and mysterious disappearance of an entire civilization The Mayans civilization was so well developed and had such a large population that it has perplexed researchers for years as to why the civilization disappeared so quickly. They were mathematicians and developed a calendar and had actually developed a calendar system that is fairly similar to the one we still used today except it had13 months and 28 days per month.

They also had a thriving culture that spread across much of South America and there was even a system of governance that was based on their religion. One of the most interesting cities in the Mayan territory, the city of Tikal, was located in the middle of a dense forest in the city of Flores, Mexico. The city was one of the most advanced cities in the territory and also one that researchers use to investigate the devastating effects of the civilizations rapid decline.

There was something that happened to this city around 900 CE made the entire population flee. However, even to this day, the reasons why the city was abandoned are still hotly contested. Whatever the event was, then the population fled they left behind somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 temples, some of which have been date to be nearly 6,000 years old.

Figure 1 - Mayan ruins in Tikai (Alex, 2007) Because there is no clear evidence to support why the civilization rapidly declined, there has been widespread conspiracy theories about the event that include such theories as something to do with the mystical properties of crystal skulls to the intervention of aliens or ancient astronauts. However, most legitimate sources point to one of two events that are more likely to represent the collapse of the civilization. The first category is that the Mayan decline was self-inflicted.

The Mayans are considered as a very violent and warmongering civilization (Minster, 2004). It has been theorized that war played a role in the Mayans quick disappearance. Other theories in this category include overpopulation, poor farming technics, as well as the destruction of key natural resources. Other causes could have included events such as an earthquake or drought. Some have even pointed to a period of climate change. Still other researchers have actual correlated a "war index" with the Mayan.