Disappearance of the Ancient Mayan Civilization

In between 300 A.D. and 900 A.D. Mayans prospered through much of Central America and in Yacatan in Southern Mexico. It is said that there could be numerous causes for the disappearance, or the turn down of the Ancient Mayan Civilization. There are numerous theories about the Mayan civilization that some believe was due to lack of food, repeated combat, and more population. The decline started around 900 A.D.; the Mayas left their stone palaces and deserted their cities. That soon was excluded by the jungle but the so called "lost city" was not rediscovered until recent times. No one actually knows why or how the Mayas turn down or left their city. However the failure, the Mayan culture has stayed alive still to today, and with numerous people in Guatemala and Southern Mexico descendents they speak the Mayan languages (Harrison, 4).

Lake Chichancanab's in Mexico, meaning "Little sea" has helped us to understand a bit about the environment in the region where the Mayans lived. David Hodell, Mark Brenner, and Jason Curtis took core samples from Lake Chichancanab. The data from the core samples indicated significant meteorological changes during the same time that the Maya's life took a dramatic turn for the worse.

Lake Chichancanab gets it's name the "Little Sea" from its saltiness, which is saturated with gypsum. So when the lake water evaporates during dry periods the gypsum settles to the lakes bottom, memorializing that drought in the sediments. Having this record of gypsum helped the Land Use and environmental Change Institute, determine how far apart these droughts were (Cotterell et al., 12).

The geologists of the University of Florida needed the climate conditions around Lake Chichancanab to help answer their questions about the Mayas decline. The May 2000 expedition to Chichancanab was the second team that made it to the region. The 1993 samples helped the geologists determine that between 800 and 1000 A.D. was their driest draught in 7,000 years.

Since the 1993 samples, lacked detail in the technology study. With no clue to the earlier research on the draught causes resulted in further investigation. So with their funding from the National Science Foundation Pale climate Program they returned to Laguna and Lake Chichancanab in 2000 for more samples. With these samples they found a considerable amount of seeds and organic matter to date using radiocarbon techniques, the new technology, and dates helped them to ...