Technology & Mayas

1. 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

2. CAUSES OF COLLAPSE • Rising costs of coordination, exploiting farmers • Stressed system - shocks: • change of climate • invasion • disease • rebellion • costs of warfare

3. 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

4. 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??

5. 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) First Civilizations

6. PERIODS OF MAYA CIVILIZATION

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTRAINTS

13. 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

14. Shifting cultivation (slash and burn), cyclicaluse/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 Agricultural Adaptation to Maya Environment

15. Old World draft animals horse cattle (oxen) pack animals donkey camel yak elephant New World llamas in Andes Animal Helpers + ENERGY

16. 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

17. Linkages

18. HOPES • HYDROGEN CELLS • SOLAR PANELS • WINDMILLS • GEOTHERMAL • EFFICIENCY OF USE

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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

23. 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 . ..