Examples of human societies that collapsed prior to c. 1700 CE

absolute Mayan polish was among the most ripe(p) to ever develop in the New ground prior to European contact, and at its height, Mayan cities defended nations estimated at 250 to 750 people per consecutive mile. 1 They were the only advanced Mesoamerican nuance to open unquestionable an extensive system of writing they also developed their own remarkable calendar, and extensively studied mathematics and astronomy.The classical period of Maya civilization is judgement to dumbfound begun around 250 CE, based on scholarly interpretation of glyphs on Mayan monuments. 2 It is thought that the occurrence of certain repetitive glyphs inside an electron orbit signify the rise of a local dynasty or kingdom. Based on the number of archeologically verified ho dos, the Mayan population is estimated to have exponentially increased to its poster of approximately 13 million in around 750CE3, accompanied by a similar increase in the number and size of monuments and buildings.After th is stain these numbers decline until around 900 CE, which is said to mark the break up of the Classic Mayan civilization in general. Among Mayan cities of the Classic period, however, some were noted to have peaked(p) and collapsed as early as 600 CE, while other(a)s persisted much longer, much(prenominal) as Chichen Itza (around 1250 CE). 4The end of the Classic Maya period was not the end of Mayan civilization itself, because Spanish explorers much(prenominal) as Cortes encountered Mayan resistance as they established their presence in the argona. While dioceanses introduced by the Spanish occupation ultimately brought the survivors numbers follow up to an estimated 3,000 in 1714 CE5, the Spanish occupation itself was not a significant mover in the decline of a civilization which had already reached its zenith and collapsed centuries before.Although the Spaniards ghostly earnestness drove them to destroy some(prenominal) of the Mayan manuscripts out of fear of paganism , the surviving written records have enabled archeologists to understand much about the Mayan writing system, and the explorers own software documentation of the Maya have proved helpful to scholars6. Modern scientific methods have enabled us to understand a great deal about the factors that may have undermined such an advanced society and brought about its downfall.Located at latitudes of 17o to 22o north of the equator, rain in the land of the ancient Maya is seasonal and unpredictable, and so in reality, the habitat of the Mayan civilization can be most accu gageely described as a seasonal rainforest or desert7. Rainfall varies with location, from 500 mm a socio-economic class along the north coast, to 4,000 mm a course of study in some southern areas8. Due to the unpredictable timing and core of rain in any given season, even modern farmers have frequently encountered difficulties in growing crops.The Maya transparently succeeded in their agricultural efforts for a long time, and cities such as Tikal even show evidence of the grammatical building of cisterns and reservoirs to computer memory water in times of drought9. However, considering the high population density of Classic Mayan cities at their peak, even with their successful agriculture and ability to store water reserves in times of drought, the Maya would still have been endangered to severe, prolonged drought perhaps enough to send them into collapse.To find records of what the modality in the Mayan homeland was like at that time, geologists from the University of Florida gathered sediment cores from several lakes in the Yucatan area and canvas the patterns of deposition, which present that the driest interval in the land in the past 7,000 years had coincided with the collapse of the Classic Maya civilization, surrounded by 800-1000 CE. A pass on study by Larry Peterson and Gerald Haug apply x-ray fluorescence to break up naval sediment cores.Titanium and iron deposits in the sediment were used as indicators of rain, because these elements get down predominantly from continental rocks and thus a high amount of si and iron deposits would reflect on a high volume of rainfall on land in that year. The results corroborated the previous study that had been made utilize freshwater sediments, indicating an unusually long and severe drought during the period of Classic Maya collapse10. Despite this evidence, the drought theory behind the collapse of Classic Mayan civilization dust far from providing a complete and thoroughly satisfactory explanation.It fails to explanation for the previously mentioned differences in the dates of collapse of cities that lay within the same division and presumably suffered from the same drought. It has been suggested that the first cities to fall to the drought were to a greater extent indefensible by virtue of location, being less proximate to natural bodies of water, such as sp go and rivers. This could then lead to warfare between cities due to rival for scant resources, and since the Mayan cities never were united into a single empire, it is apparent that such warfare may have greatly destabilized Mayan society.As with other cases of collapsed societies throughout history, it is likely that multiple causes, of which drought was the most significant provided by no means the only one, contrived to bring about the fall of the advanced Mayan society. Another society that was founded, peaked, and collapsed close to our modern day home would be the Anasazi of Chaco canyon. This society had collapsed hygienic before the arrival of Columbus, but unlike the Maya, left behind no written records. What is known about the Anasazi comes from using a combination of scientific methods to analyze what remains of their society.The Native Americans who first settled the U. S. southwestern faced a problem that is still obvious at present. This constituent has very low and unpredictable rainfall. Drough t is often cited as the obvious major reason for Anasazi societys collapse, but recent studies indicate that the Anasazi sites themselves may still have been able to sustain a population at the time of their abandonment. 11 In the study of the decline and collapse of Anasazi society, archeologists have relied heavily on a few methods of analysis.One lies in the field of force of dendrochronology and is particularly useful since the Anasazi, particularly at Chaco Canyon, made heavy use of timber for their construction. Using the thickness of individual tree ring from a particular piece of timber, dendrochronologists are able match patterns in the rings of different trees from the same region. By comparing several different trees in this manner, dendrochronologists are able to correctly associate each ring with a specific year, starting from trees in the present day and dating buttocks for thousands of years.Dendrochronological studies thus present highly detailed information regard ing the weather patterns of the U. S. Southwest and can indicate not only years of high rainfall or drought, but also the amount of rainfall and the season within a particular year during which the rain fell12. Scientists have also analyzed the contents of pack rat middens to gain insight into the local vegetation. exact rats (Neotoma spp. ) are rodents that have lived in the area for thousands of years, and gather vegetation and other organic material from within their small territorial range, preserving it in their nests, called middens.Pack rat midden analysis has allowed scientists to determine that the initial area around Chaco Canyon was forested with pinyon and juniper trees which no longer grow today in the vicinity, and led to the conclusion that the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon had deforested their surrounding woodland for firewood to render their pottery making, and for construction material as Chaco became an effective political and religious center for the Anasazi society. 3 Furthermore, studies of strontium isotopes in other types of wood used at Chaco indicate that several conifer logs had actually been imported from more distant areas such as the Chuska and San Mateo mountains, presumably after Chaco itself had been deforested. 14 It is believed that this deforestation led to irreversible nutrient loss in the soil of the Chaco area, which is further strengthened by studies of food remains at archeological sites.These remains indicate that as the food supply in Chaco deteriorated, its inhabitants resorted to eating rabbits and mice, and eventually cannibalism, as testify by boiled kind bones with placid ends and human muscle protein found in preserved dried human feces. 15 It is probable that cannibalism came with social unrest, possibly a revolt by the providers of Chaco Canyon against the elite, and that together with these factors, a drought (dated by tree rings to around 1130 CE) pushed Anasazi society at Chaco past its limits.Numbering at p ossibly 5,000 or more at their peak, the Chaco Anasazi had already exhausted and deforested their environment, and likely fought amongst themselves for the remaining resources. The nett example I choose to discuss is the collapse of the Scandinavian dependency of Greenland. Greenland is a harsh and fragile environment, but at the time of the Scandinavian occupation around 980 CE, it was experiencing a relatively warm period that lasted from 800 1300 CE, closing curtain with the start of the Little Ice Age.Information about Greenlands climate is derived from palynological studies, wherein scientists analyze pollen found in mud deposits forceed from the bottom of lakes and bogs, and ice core studies. Pollen studies display what sort of deedss were growing in the area, and can reveal subtle shifts in climate when pollen from cold-tolerant species is prevalent.Similar to dendrochronology, ice core studies reveal the amount of snowfall within a year, and by using a mass spectromet er it is potential to analyze the content of oxygen isotopes within a layer of snow, with the ratios of these isotopes indicating the fairish climate during that year. Ice cores can also reveal how stormy the year was in which the snow fell by analyzing concentrations of sodium and calcium ions, which are brought inland by sea spray. 16 By 1000 CE the Scandinavian had settled Greenland in two different areas with a core population of around 5,000.They relied on hay farming to feed their livestock, which consisted of goats, sheep, and cows, but due to the length and severity of their winters, they were forced to estimate how many animals they could support with their stockpiled hay, and slaughter the remainder. If the winter lasted longer than expected, the consequences could obviously lead to the starvation and remainder of the few remaining livestock. Their pastoral lifestyle, use of turf for buildings, and need for firewood demanded the clearing of native vegetation, and livest ock trampling hampered the regeneration of trees.Palynological studies support the conclusion that the Norse had deforested the environment and caused soil erosion, with the decline of pollen from willow and birch trees as well as the presence of topsoil at the bottom of lakes indicating the loss of plant cover and soil. The loss of abundant lumber resulted in the halting of construction involving wood, and the lack of firewood limited the Norse in their efforts to pasteurize dairy products and extract iron for their implements.Unlike the Norse, the Inuit who settled Greenland in about 1200 CE managed to exploit the resources of the sea with their kayaks, hunting plentiful fish (which the Norse oddly refused to eat, as evidenced by the complete lack of fish remains in garbage) and whales, whose adipose tissue could be used for fuel and warmth. Possible impertinent contact between the Norse and Inuit may also have led to the decline of Norse society on Greenland, because it prevent ed the Norse from peacefully interacting with their neighbors and learning from them how to adapt to the organic conditions.Another factor that weakened the Norse result was the increasing difficulty of transportation, and hence trade and communication, across the sea with mainland Norway, as the cold weather brought by the Little Ice Age set in and ice began to run seafaring dangerous. 17 Summarized concisely in the words of Jared Diamond, the Norse settlement of Greenland collapsed due to environmental damage, climate change, loss of friendly contacts with Norway, rise of hostile contacts with the Inuit, and the political, economic, social, and cultural setting of the Greenland Norse. 18