The Maya did it to themselves

[eridani]

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/The_Fall_Of_The_Maya_They_Did_It_To_Themselves_999.htm

For 1200 years, the Maya dominated Central America. At their peak around 900 A.D., Maya cities teemed with more than 2,000 people per square mile - comparable to modern Los Angeles County.
Even in rural areas the Maya numbered 200 to 400 people per square mile. But suddenly, all was quiet. And the profound silence testified to one of the greatest demographic disasters in human prehistory - the demise of the once vibrant Maya society. What happened? Some NASA-funded researchers think they have a pretty good idea.

"They did it to themselves," says veteran archeologist Tom Sever.

"The Maya are often depicted as people who lived in complete harmony with their environment,' says PhD student Robert Griffin. "But like many other cultures before and after them, they ended up deforesting and destroying their landscape in efforts to eke out a living in hard times."

[virgogal]

1. Hmmm! You think maybe there's a lesson to be learned here?

[Nederland]

10. Mechanized farming is really important?

Is that the lesson?

[HughMoran]

17. lol

Funny how humans are able to adapt like that.

[hootinholler]

18. Yes! All hail Monsanto!

Do I need it?

-Hoot

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. Link doesn't work. I'd love to read it. nt

[NYC_SKP]

4. Link needs an 'l' as om 'html'. Here's a working link.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/The_Fall_Of_The_Maya_They_Did_It_To_Themselves_999.html

:hi:

[NYC_SKP]

3. Well, like Easter Islanders and others, they were technologically prevented from exploiting further

and further away.

Like others have and continue to today.

But we're gonna hit the wall too, very very soon.

[Warpy]

5. Not surprising, I always thought it was a combination

of environmental degradation and the elites thirst for warfare.

Once the population had been starved in half, the rebellion must have put the French to shame.

[IrateCitizen]

8. Not as much a thirst for warfare as diversion of vital resources...

... toward religious institutions.

None of this is really new -- Jared Diamond discussed the Maya at length in Collapse.

[BeFree]

6. So

The Mayan had a resident b*sh, too?

history repeating itself, eh?

[imdjh]

7. ".....are often depicted as people who lived in complete harmony with their environment," by whom???

Was anyone here under the impression that the Maya, or any other ancient civilization that accomplished anything lived in complete harmony with nature?

[eridani]

11. By people who observe modern Mayan survivors

Obviously after the crash they had no other choice.

[patrice]

19. "accomplish"? "anything"? nt

[imdjh]

20. The Maya accomplished things. What is your question?

[elocs]

9. Humans are a virus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn6WZh17BF4

[Sirveri]

16. No, we're a germ!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XOrbHxJSYM

[Karenina]

22. This old fart thanks you sincerely for your post!

Your offering is the reason I have never been able to completely divorce myself from DU. Großartig war das!!

[Kablooie]

12. Were they Republicans?

[Burma Jones]

13. Read "A Short History of Progress"

This happens again and again.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Progress

[era veteran]

14. 1491

Charles Mann's book about the year(s) before Columbus 'discovered' the Americas. This was a fascinating read.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. This issue of National Geographic w/this mesmerizing story

was in my doctor's waiting room and it kept me enthralled while I prayed they WOULDN'T call me until I finished it!

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/08/maya-rise-fall/gugliotta-text
The Maya: Glory and Ruin
Saga of a civilization in three parts: The rise, the monumental splendor, and the collapse.
By Guy Gugliotta
Photograph by Simon Norfolk with permission of Conaculta-INAH, Mexico

[dipsydoodle]

21. BBC - Logging 'caused Nazca collapse'

The ancient Nazca people of Peru are famous for the lines they drew in the desert depicting strange animal forms.

A further mystery is what happened to this once great civilisation, which suddenly vanished 1,500 years ago.

Now a team of archaeologists have found the demise of the Nazca society was linked in part to the fate of a tree.

Analysing plant remains they reveal how the destruction of forests containing the huarango tree crossed a tipping point, causing ecological collapse.