Looking for Clues at Copán
The ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central and South America. Their civilization extended to parts of what is now Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, and most of Guatemala and Belize. From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphic writing, and a complex social and political order. Looking at the impressive remains of ancient Maya civilization, it's hard to imagine how such a society could collapse.
Looking for clues at Copán
Clues to this collapse can be found at Copán, a Maya site in western Honduras. Copán was once a Classic Maya royal center, the largest site in the southeastern part of the Maya area. Covering about 29 acres, it was built on the banks of the CopánRiver on an artificial terrace made of close to a million cubic feet of dirt. Over time, people spread out from the central core and built homes in outlying areas that had formerly been used for crops. Copán's nobles built smaller, rival complexes on sites that were increasingly further from the core.
In spite of its wealth, power, and size, Copán collapsed. No monuments seem to have been produced after A.D. 822. Does this mean that the collapse was sudden? Or is it possible that the society collapsed more gradually? To explore why Copán collapsed, try an archaeological activity and discover what scientists recently found when they examined the site.
What really happens when a society collapses? Can a society do anything to prevent a collapse? Find out more in "Understanding Collapse."
Understanding Collapse
Understanding Collapse
The normal pattern of history shows one civilization succeeding another, either rapidly or gradually. When a large state-level society falls, the population size and density decrease dramatically. Society tends to become less politically centralized. Less investment is made in elements such as architecture, art, and literature. Trade and other economic activities are greatly diminished, and the flow of information among people slows. The ruling elites may change, but usually the working classes tend to remain and provide continuity (though in some cases, virtually no one remains).
Is it possible to prevent a collapse?
Scientists Thuman and Bennet have highlighted "prerequisites for survival," needs that must be met in order for a society to continue:
- Every society must be able to answer the basic biological needs of its members: food, drink, shelter, and medical care.
- Every society must provide for the production and distribution of goods and services (perhaps through a division of labor, rules concerning property and trade, or ideas about the role of work).
- Every society must provide for the reproduction of new members and consider laws and issues related to reproduction (regulation, marriageable age, number of children, and so on).
- Every society must provide for the training (education, apprenticeship, passing on of values) of an individual so that he or she can become a functioning adult in the society.
- Every society must provide for the maintenance of internal and external order (laws, courts, police, wars, diplomacy).
- Every society must provide meaning and motivation to its members.
This last prerequisite is more important than it may seem. No societal activity is possible unless people are motivated to participate. Why do we get up in the morning? How do we see ourselves in relation to other members of society? Why do we follow a society's rules? Without a sense of meaning and motivation, people will become apathetic. If this happens, a society may be threatened with decline.