Tuesday, October 7, 2014

8th Grade/ What happened to the Mayans?






For 1200 years, the Maya dominated Central Mayan Civilization peaked in the year 900 C.E., when Maya cities teemed with more than 2,000 people per square mile. Its massive size can be compared to modern day Los Angeles, California. But suddenly, all was quiet! Everything had disappeared. This profound silence represents one of the greatest mysteries in human history. It is your mission to find out what happened to the Mayan Civilization.

Homework Response Question [Due by Friday, 10/10/14]:
What caused the Mayan Civilization to fall? Explain with evidence.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dylan Bennish
I think what caused this civilization to fall is femine. I believe this because lack of food is one of the most reasonable theories. People died or left of hunger, Mayas used slash and burn which highly affects crops and soil, using slash and burn only works for about 3-5 years. So it makes sense that Mayas fell because of hunger/lack of food.

Unknown said...

Well I believe that it was femine because the Mayans had to have a lot to eat for their people so that they can survive.With that came the slash and burn because the Maya's would need a lot of land to crop,but their was trees in their way. Has they burned the wood,they damaged the soil making it useable for 3-5 years.

Anonymous said...

What caused this cibvilization to fall is the lack of food and lack of resources and weapons. There was lack of weapons because they lost the war and lack of reasources to help them fight in the war or to live another day. The city problyh fell apart because they didnt have a leader. Their king couuld of gotten killed and the war and therefor maybe thats wh the Mayan population/ city fell apart.

Anonymous said...

the one that just says anonymous and has no name is mine.


ROBERT STUETZ 5/6 BDF. I

Anonymous said...

I believe that it was famine. They used the slash and burn witch means the get nutrients for 3-5 years then you have to wait ten years before you can use it again. You can't live without food.

Tyler Dodd 7-8 bdf

Unknown said...

I believe that famine wiped out the once grate civilization. It would be easy for famine to wipe out a civilization with 2000 people per square mile. with so many people eating so little. they c could be wiped out quick.

Anonymous said...

Taylor Dodd 5/6 BDF

I believe that the Mayan civilization fell and disappeared is because of famine. The Mayans used the slash-and-burn method, which caused the soil to become bad and eroded. When the slash-and-burn method is used the soil can only be used for about 3-5 years. Then the solid needs about 10 years to fallow and become fertile again. The Mayans soil was getting worse and worse and less and less food was being produced as more and more people were being added to the civilation as it was growing.

Unknown said...

I believe that famine wiped out the entire Mayan civilization. They didn't have the best farmland around. The soil was becoming less fertile and wasn't going to grow a lot of crops. If they don't have enough crops, they won't have enough food to survive.

Mr. McCrobie said...

This post is not the current homework assignment. Any post that is for homework will state "Homework Response Question." Please go back and answer the correct question or you may not receive credit.

Anonymous said...

what caused the great Mayan civilization to fall was lack of attention to when they use slash and burn. the reason it made the civilization to fall apart was because once the ash settled into the soil it became unusable for crops so when they couldn't grow crops they left to find food.

CHRISTINE COOPER
pd.5-6 bdf

Anonymous said...

I believe that the cause of the Mayan's downfall was famine, the slash and burn, and disease because when the Mayans burn down the land they ended up having bad soil and they couldn't grow crops and that leads to the famine. Also it would have been very dry, so they must have not washed their hands properly and that could have lead to disease.
JinJoo Lee~ 7,8 BDF

Anonymous said...

julianna sterling
in my opinion, a climate change, like a drought, caused the mayan civilization to fall. i know this because the stalagmites' growth decreased around the time of the mayans' dissappearance, and that means there was a lack of water. this lack of water could lead to famine, disease, and warfare. all of these components would've lead to the mayans' downfall.

Anonymous said...

Maryam alnaseri 5/6 Ace

I think that the cause of the demise is the warfare, disease, and famine combined. The root of it to my opinion is the famine. By using the slash and burn method the Mayans killed the nutrients that the crops need to survive. If there is no food then that could start a warfare over food. Since there is other people coming into the Mayans land to destroy it then that could of started the disease that killed everyone and possibly made the other Mayans to flee their city in fear of catching the disease.

Unknown said...

John Maguire 10-8-14
I believe that the reason the Mayans have fallen is because of a mix of disease and famine. I believe it is disease and famine because of the plant hopper bug. The plant hopper bug infects all of the crops that they eat and the famine kicks in because since they have no food they are pretty much forced to eat the food that is infected with the disease.

Anonymous said...

Saige Oechsli pd.7-8 BDF

The things that caused the Mayan civilization to fall were actually all four of the theories connected. It all started when they used the Slash and Burn method to clear land for farming. This exposed the soil to erosion and the elements, so eventually all the good fertile soil would be washed away. The Mayans would still have a short period of time to plant crops and harvest (about three to five years). During that period of time, the Mayans would continue to plant, but some of their major crops (ex. Maize) would become infected by a species of "plant hopper". The insect carried a disease that was a tad bit deadly, so when the Mayans ate their crops, they would become ill and die. The crops would also be affected by drought, which would in turn affect the Mayans as well. The plants would die, and along with having little land for planting, and not being able to eat the few crops still safe, the Mayans would starve. Without any surplus, or land to plant more crops, the Mayans would revert to Warfare. They would have to attack other tribes and cities to get food and fertile land. So, in conclusion, it was not just one theory that ended the Mayans, it was all four connected.

Anonymous said...

I believe the Mayans fell because of warfare and famine. I believe warfare contributed to the fall of the civilization because since the armies of the Maya were very large, each cities army could have killed each other off. The rest of the population could have starved to death because the army might have taken much of the food supply from other civilizations. Abdullah Siddiqui

Anonymous said...

I beleive the mayans fell because of femine. this is because they needed to have lots of food to eat to survive.Thats how the slash and burn came in so they had to cut many trees down so they could grow more crops.


William townsend 7/8bdf

Anonymous said...

Makayla Joseph 5/6 BDF
I believe that famine was the cause of the Mayan downfall. The people simply did not choose the best way to dispose of the trees and other plants. They choose the slash and burn method which destroyed some of the nutrients in the soil, which then produced no crops and with no crops the people could have died of starvation. They also could have wondered of looking for food somwhere else and then got stranded and ndied of starvation.

Anonymous said...

ROBERT STUETZ
5/6 BDF
The Mayan civilizations downfall was caused by the slash and burn method of agriculture. The civilization was caused by the slash and burn method because they were tearing down their wood for houses and ere burning it all up which let to drough. when the drought happened the Mayans couldnt grow any crops because there wasnt any moist soil to grow crop.

Anonymous said...

Brandon Scholl
I believe that the mix of disease cause the mayans to fall because the diseases were all over there crops and when they ate it they got the disease and died.

Unknown said...

it was famine because the way they cleared land was terribly cleared because they burned the trees they cut. also it rained a lot there so the crops could grow as good so they problem couldn't grow crops and died off.

Laila Libertin 7/8 BDF said...

I believe that all the theories had to do with the mayans disappearance. I think that disease started it all with disease. The fruit hopper spread a disease in the fruit causing many illnesses and deaths. After the mayans figured out the fruit was contaminated the used the slash and burn method. Which is to clear all the land and burn it. Although this method only lasted for three to five years of good soil, then it takes about seven years so regain its rich soil. After this there was a drought there was no water and food was scarce. When people run out of stuff that they need they do anything to get it even fight. This led to war because there wasn't enough food for all the mayans so they fought each other for food and land. The mayans basically tore down their own city. The people that were there decided to leave because there was nothing there for them. This is how the mayans disappearance came to be.

Anonymous said...

Kade Johnson BDF 5/6
Disease was the cause of the Mayans civilization to fall. This is a accurate theory because there were monkey that could of spread yellow through the Mayan people. Also they had bugs that could of sent a virus in their food supply and got the people sick.

Anonymous said...

I think that famine caused the civilization to fall because, when they had used the slash-and-burn method it didn't always keep the civilization sustainable. Then, if this didn't last, they couldn't keep the farms/crops going. Also, a drought could cause famine, because the crops need water to sustain themselves, and if they didn't have water, the crops would die, and the Mayans would have eventually starved from famine.

Rachel Arion 5/6 BDF

Anonymous said...

MIRCOLE LACSON said...
Its famine because pretty much all the other theories lead to famine at one point. Like for example, the slash and burn method. If you burn all the crops, you burn the soil and nutrients which also lead to lack of crops for food which is FAMINE. Another example is the theory where rain patterns change. If the rain changes,there wont be rain at crop season which leads to crops dying which leads to FAMINE.
Thank you..

Anonymous said...

Andrea Ferruzca
I believe famine was the cause of Mayan civilization because the area in which the Mayan lived in was not a great area for farmland. Also the soil they had wasn't helping the crops grow so if the crops didn't grow then they wouldn't have enough food, which would leave them to starve.

Anonymous said...

Sayuri Velazco PD: 7/8 BDF
The theory that caused the Mayan downfall was all four of the theories. The first one would be an environmental change. This would change the environment and make it so it is not appropriate weather to for crops. This would cause famine because the Mayans depended greatly on crops for food. Another thing that contributed to famine was the slash and burn method that the Mayans used to clear land. This would expose the soil and eventually erode all of it. The next theory would be warfare because now that all the soil has eroded the Mayans start to fight for new land to plant their crops. During warfare the Mayans back home would eat any crop/berry picked whether it is edible or not. They were so desperate for food at that point that they would eat anything. If the Mayans hadn't died of famine then they died of warfare or disease from the non-edible food. This is what caused the Mayan downfall.

Anonymous said...

Marilyn Chen periods 7-8bdf
I believe that warfare was the main reason that caused the mayan empire to fall. Due to famine, disease, drought, and etc. the mayans were probably forced to fight with another civilization for land, food, and other natural resources. The mayans were relatively very good at wars but maybe when they fought the other civilization they underestimated their strength and were defeated. Also knowing that they were week from not getting enough food and water they were weak causing the other civilization to have a chance a beating them. Also the fact that they probably contracted a disease caused by the plant hopper does help prove that the fact that their warriors were sick and etc.

Anonymous said...

I think that the reason the Mayan civilization fell was because of all of the theories. This is because they are all believable, and if you put them all in a certain way, they could all link together. For example, it could have all started with disease and they could have all disappeared at the end of it all when they went through a war.

Anonymous said...

the last anonymous post was me.
-Emily Hanes