Collapse Throughout history there have been many civilizations and complex societies that have come and gone, these people were forced off their land by disease, human impact on the environment, warfare, and environmental and climate change all have been used by historians and archaeologist to explain the collapse of these civilizations. This essay will focus on two of these complex societies, the Mesa Verde region of the American Southwest and the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and exam the causes and the evidence for their collapse, and also what happened to the people that inhabited these areas after the complex societies they lived in collapsed.
Mesa Verde The Mesa Verde region is located on the Colorado plateau in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico and is characterized by the large number of spectacular well-preserved cliff dwellings, houses built in alcoves or rock overhangs along the canyon walls. Mesa Verde was inhabited by Ancestral Puebloan peoples from around 750-1300, they formed a complex society that incorporated the extensive use of agriculture to include irrigation practices, hunting and foraging of local sources, and artwork (Cameron, 2006). As many as 20,000 people may have lived in the Mesa Verde region during the 1200’s and by 1300 the region was nearly deserted (Cameron, 2006). Archaeologists have several explanations of why the people of Mesa Verde abandoned the region and have not settled conclusively on a single explanation. More than likely, it was a combination of reasons that drove these people out of their homes. The first theory that I will discuss is how climate change affected the people of Mesa Verde in their agricultural production of food, thus causing them to leave the area and resettle elsewhere. The people of Mesa Verde were made up of farming families that depended on crops of corn, beans, and squash (Cameron, 2006). Studies of past climate patterns have shown two different possible changes in the climate that would have affected the traditional farming practices. The first is an extended period of drought from 1276-1299 that coincides with the area being abandoned (Cameron, 2006). This information was gathered by using tree ring dating technology, the sites at Mesa Verde are some of the best dated archaeological sites in the world due to the arid climate of the region and many of the sites being sheltered under overhanging rocks and cliffs that preserve the cut timbers for tree ring dating. Another possible environmental change scenario for the abandonment that is made possible by tree ring dating is a bimodal precipitation pattern (Cameron, 2006). Famers counted on snowfall in the winter and rain in the summer to continually keep their crops nourished. Dendrochronology records show that between about 1250 and 1450 this pattern of precipitation stopped (Cameron, 2006). Both of these environmental changes would have caused decreased yield from crops and led uncertainty about future harvests and possibly caused …show more content…
Throughout this period there is a noticeable migration shift out of long occupied cities to cities that were easily defended against attack. The final destabilization and collapse of the Maya civilization came with the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century (Turner and Sabloff, 2012). Although the Maya people continue to live in this same region as their ancestors and the language and many aspects of their culture and traditions continue to be used, it is not nearly to the scale that was at the peak of the Maya …show more content…
This forced the people of Mesa Verde and the Maya to move because of lack of food or threat from other groups looking for food. The one anomaly is the last collapse of the Maya people that was caused by the invasion of a highly advanced European power invading their land. I believe we have a lot to learn from these past societies, and we now have to opportunity to make a change in our own societies and the world before we see another collapse. The last chapter of Jared Diamond’s book Collapse concludes with “Thus, we have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of distant peoples and past peoples.” And that, “My hope in writing this book has been that enough people will choose to profit from that opportunity to make a difference” (Diamond,
Mesa Verde The Mesa Verde region is located on the Colorado plateau in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico and is characterized by the large number of spectacular well-preserved cliff dwellings, houses built in alcoves or rock overhangs along the canyon walls. Mesa Verde was inhabited by Ancestral Puebloan peoples from around 750-1300, they formed a complex society that incorporated the extensive use of agriculture to include irrigation practices, hunting and foraging of local sources, and artwork (Cameron, 2006). As many as 20,000 people may have lived in the Mesa Verde region during the 1200’s and by 1300 the region was nearly deserted (Cameron, 2006). Archaeologists have several explanations of why the people of Mesa Verde abandoned the region and have not settled conclusively on a single explanation. More than likely, it was a combination of reasons that drove these people out of their homes. The first theory that I will discuss is how climate change affected the people of Mesa Verde in their agricultural production of food, thus causing them to leave the area and resettle elsewhere. The people of Mesa Verde were made up of farming families that depended on crops of corn, beans, and squash (Cameron, 2006). Studies of past climate patterns have shown two different possible changes in the climate that would have affected the traditional farming practices. The first is an extended period of drought from 1276-1299 that coincides with the area being abandoned (Cameron, 2006). This information was gathered by using tree ring dating technology, the sites at Mesa Verde are some of the best dated archaeological sites in the world due to the arid climate of the region and many of the sites being sheltered under overhanging rocks and cliffs that preserve the cut timbers for tree ring dating. Another possible environmental change scenario for the abandonment that is made possible by tree ring dating is a bimodal precipitation pattern (Cameron, 2006). Famers counted on snowfall in the winter and rain in the summer to continually keep their crops nourished. Dendrochronology records show that between about 1250 and 1450 this pattern of precipitation stopped (Cameron, 2006). Both of these environmental changes would have caused decreased yield from crops and led uncertainty about future harvests and possibly caused …show more content…
Throughout this period there is a noticeable migration shift out of long occupied cities to cities that were easily defended against attack. The final destabilization and collapse of the Maya civilization came with the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century (Turner and Sabloff, 2012). Although the Maya people continue to live in this same region as their ancestors and the language and many aspects of their culture and traditions continue to be used, it is not nearly to the scale that was at the peak of the Maya …show more content…
This forced the people of Mesa Verde and the Maya to move because of lack of food or threat from other groups looking for food. The one anomaly is the last collapse of the Maya people that was caused by the invasion of a highly advanced European power invading their land. I believe we have a lot to learn from these past societies, and we now have to opportunity to make a change in our own societies and the world before we see another collapse. The last chapter of Jared Diamond’s book Collapse concludes with “Thus, we have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of distant peoples and past peoples.” And that, “My hope in writing this book has been that enough people will choose to profit from that opportunity to make a difference” (Diamond,