technology & mayas chap. 3, mayas - ancient civilization –rise and fall –population growth,...
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Technology & Mayas
• Chap. 3, Mayas - Ancient Civilization– Rise and Fall– population growth, gradual in ancient times
• intensification of agriculture and water management
• more social control - exploitation - rebellion
• expansion - wars - more territory - more control
CAUSES OF COLLAPSE
– Rising costs of coordination, exploiting farmers– Stressed system - shocks:
• change of climate
• invasion
• disease
• rebellion
• costs of warfare
MAYA CLASSIC COLLAPSE 850 CE (A.D.)
• Newest data– deciphering of Maya hieroglyphs
• political history
• warfare increases, rebellions also
– biophysical evidence of climate change• drought 850-1050 CE
• lack of domestic water - disease, thirst, water wars?
• TERRACING conserves water in ground
HOPES FOR US?
• MODERN INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION– environmental impact info– socio-cultural impact & public health info– predicting with statistics, modeling
• a chance to prevent collapse
• political will ?
• investing by the wealthy for the long term??
First Civilizations
• OLD WORLD– Mesopotamia
– China
– India
– Egypt
– Emerging info - • ? S. Asia
• ? Africa
• NEW WORLD– Andean
• Inca + Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, N. Chile
– Mesoamerica• Toltec (Teotihuacan,
Valley of Mexico, Axtec)• Olmec (southern Gulf)• Maya (Yucatan +
highlands)• Oaxaca (Mixtec,
Zapotec, Mt. Alban)
PERIODS OF MAYA CIVILIZATION
Preclassic Classic Postclassic
800 BCE –200 CE
400 – 850 CE 1050-1500 CE
Divert rivers,drain swamps
+ raisedfields, terraces
Populationreduced 65% -(overall)
Maya Collapse ??
• Abandonment of southern cities in lowlands – Palenque (Chiapas, Mexico)– Copan, Edzna, Calakmul (S. Yucatan Peninsula– Tikal (Guatemala)– Copan (Honduras)– Caracol, Cerros, Lamanai (Belize)
SURVIVORS
• Highlands of Guatemala & Chiapas, Mexico
• Northern Lowlands (northern half of Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico)– Cities continue, shifting cultivation also– Irrigation systems ???– Sculpture, architecture, painting, ceramics
Spanish Conquest
• Exploitation, malnutrition, loss of resources.
• Ecological disruptions -- new plants, animals, weeds
• Virgin soil epidemics - New World– losses of 90% + in lowlands - malaria
– losses of 70% + in highlands
• Effects CONFUSED - 9th century collapse
Ancient Cities
• Dependence on rainfall agriculture plus simple irrigation systems, terracing
• Global climate change - impacts agriculture
• Local effects differ widely - wind patterns and rainfall throughout agricultural cycle.
• Buffered by city gardening, smaller elite living off production by peasant farmers
WATER DEFICIENCY
• THIRST - kills faster than hunger (faster with high heat and humidity)
• Skin diseases– lack of water for bathing, washing clothes (especially in
tropics)
• Varmints invade houses and grain storage– lack of water for cleaning
• Malnutrition - lack of water for cooking grains and seeds, poor harvests from lack of rain.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTRAINTS
• 6 MONTH DRY – Jan. - May
• HURRICANES– Aug. - Sept.
• FLOODING – Aug. - Dec
• Karst topography– limestone subsoil
– vertical cracks
– water seeps down and out to sea
– no rivers or lakes
– seasonal streams and ponds in some areas
Aguadas & Chultunes
• Chultunes - stonelined underground water storage cisterns for domestic use in towns
• Aguadas - enlarged seasonal ponds, often lined with cement to prevent leakage
• Canals and sloped village construction to drain water into aguadas and chultunes.
• Continued use and communal maintenance until the arrival of piped water with wells and pumps
Agricultural Adaptation to Maya Environment
• Shifting cultivation (slash and burn), cyclical use/fallow– Soil renewal from trees
(roots, leaf fall)
– polycropping– risk reduction, plant high
and low, early and late
– low labor costs – needs low population
• Intensive – River diversion - rare– Drained fields– Raised fields
• bigger canals• soil doubled on fields• fish farming• shading/water lilies -
reduces evaporation
– Terracing - water & soil conserved
Animal Helpers + ENERGY
• Old World– draft animals
• horse
• cattle (oxen)
– pack animals• donkey
• camel
• yak
• elephant
• New World– llamas in Andes
TECHNOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES
• Reduces incentive to develop wheel for transport
• No wheel - no pulleys, other machinery
• Energy - human back and social organization, detailed knowledge - modification of natural environment
Linkages
Energy Productivity Environment
Fossil FuelsWater & Wind
+++++++++
- - - - -- - -
Animal helpHuman energy+ env. smarts
+++
- --
HOPES
• HYDROGEN CELLS
• SOLAR PANELS
• WINDMILLS
• GEOTHERMAL
• EFFICIENCY OF USE
POPULATION DENSITY
• ANALYSIS OF POP. PRESSURE ON RESOURCES - ancient Mayas and culture change processes – assume 5 persons per housemound ???– fails to include number of residences per
peasant family -- divide by 3 or 4? • long fallow regimes - 20 years in each hamlet?• residence in town centers during dry season• grain storage in old houses
VIDEO - Joya de Ceren
• Maya Pompeii, El Salvador• Volcano covered peasant village - 600 CE• Produced food for Maya cities• Corvee labor for building projects
– Estimate (Abrams), 2 months of labor twice in adult man’s life time, during dry season.
Fairness & Rebellion
– Early Classic Compensations • jade jewelry• seeing grand ceremonies• obsidian tools• polychrome ceramics (high quality dishes with
colored glazes)• shells for jewelry
– Late Classic - upper classes demand more and give less, growing gap between rich and poor. Rebellions, increased war between city-states.
Zapatistas 1994
• Chiapas - indigenous peoples– defending land rights, precedents:
• Mexican Revolution - Emiliano Zapata, national hero
• Caste War of the Mayas of Yucatan 1848, de facto autonomy of Maya in Quintana Roo until Cancun.
– Use of new information technologies• Taking their case to the internet, asking for support
from abroad. Cell phones, computers, internet
NAFTA & ZAPATISTA REBELLION
– livelihood threatened by NAFTA• importing cheap corn, hidden US subsidies
• no subsidies for these indigenous farmers
• Goal - diversify production, produce for market efficiently, globalization
• Result - increased poverty, rebellion to protect livelihood
• UPDATE - holding autonomous territory, community organizing for mutual aid, asking for national political change 1994-2003 and counting . ..
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