This is a theory that’s been around for some time but according to NASA the evidence that the decline of the Mayan civilization was due to environmental degradation caused by poor agricultural practices is mounting:
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.”
A major drought occurred about the time the Maya began to disappear. And at the time of their collapse, the Maya had cut down most of the trees across large swaths of the land to clear fields for growing corn to feed their burgeoning population. They also cut trees for firewood and for making building materials.
Well the Mayan’s collapse is as mysterious as the death of the dinosaurs. Since, they lived in Ancient Mexico my best guess of their destruction is the diease from the Europeons. Disease can kill more people more than a natural catastrophe.
Timing is against you in that observation, Brandon. The decline of the Maya civilization occurred nearly 500 years before the Europeans arrived.