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 . ..