Climate Change and Trade Networks as Causes of the Classic Maya Collapse

The civilization of the ancient Lowland Maya was a thriving and advanced society, capable of building great monuments able to survive to the present. It is therefore an archaeological mystery as to why, at the end of the Classic period, from the eighth to eleventh century, Maya sites show signs of massive decline and even desertion; this is referred to as the “collapse” of the Maya, though it was not an immediate nor evenly distributed phenomenon (Douglas, Demarest, Brenner, & Canuto, 2016, 614, 634). Several theories as to the cause, or causes, of the collapse have been suggested. One theory points to climate change causing severe droughts during this period as a major …show more content…
However, these sites with access to coastal trade were best able to recover following the collapse, unlike inland sites (Douglas et al., 2016, 636-637). Patterns of recovery following the collapse period suggest that trade was a more important factor than climate. The study of obsidian trade networks note that Postclassical trade along the coast remained strong (Golitko et al., 2012, 515-516). Douglas et al. (2016) suggest that the continuation of drought for approximately 200 years following the collapse may have prevented inland recovery, but also acknowledge that the dominant coastal trade networks likely prevented recovery even when wet conditions returned because the inland areas were economically unappealing (Douglas et al., 2016, 637). The fact that areas which did not feel the negative economic impact of the trade shift tended to suffer only minimal collapse, most likely induced by drought, and tended to recover suggests that drought did not have a strong impact without being paired with the stronger influence of economic decline. Additionally, previous instances of drought had occurred but the Maya were able to adapt and recover, unlike in this instance, by altering their agriculture and water storage techniques (Douglas et al., 2016, 636). Douglas et al. (2016) proposed that the increased intensity of the droughts or lack of economic resources prevented the Maya from initially adapting to the droughts at the end of the Classic period (Douglas et al., 2016, 636). However, another argument can be made that, in the same way the Maya did not return inland following the Classic collapse because of lack of economic opportunity, the Maya may have failed to initially adapt to the droughts not out of inability