Unprecedented study confirms massive scale of lowland Maya civilization

phys.org ^ | September 28, 2018 | by Barri Bronston, Tulane University

[Red Badger]

Where did they all go?????...................

[Red Badger]

PinGGG!.................

[Red Badger]

A newly-documented site to the north of Tikal illustrates the range of features uncovered by lidar, as well as the complexity of interpreting them. The elongated building at top right is part of a so-called E Group complex and may pre-date 500 BCE. Across the valley, the large acropolis is likely a thousand years younger, though it may cover earlier constructions. Its broad access ramp overlaps an earlier causeway that runs between two eroded hilltop platforms, at the top and bottom of the image. Small houses and sunken garden enclosures cover the hillsides. Credit: Luke Auld-Thomas/PACUNAM Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-09-unprecedented-massive-scale-lowland-maya.html#jCp

[DannyTN]

Maybe they joined the dinosaurs in the flat earth dinosaur apocalyspe.

[colorado tanker]

Seems a wee bit high on the population estimate. :-))

[Red Badger]

Assuming they migrated to someplace else, who are their descendants?

Assuming they all died from war, disease or starvation, where are all the graves and skeletons?

Assuming they all left in flying saucers, where is that Alien Guy?......................

[BenLurkin]

Climate change.

[kaehurowing]

Where did they all go?????...................

---

Undocumented and living in Southern California.

[SES1066]

... where is that Alien Guy?

Bad hair day!

[married21]

I thought there were still plenty of Mayans around, and their language is still alive. It’s just their cities which are gone.

[Red Badger]

High or not, the Government of Guatemala has a TOURIST TREASURE ON THEIR HANDS!

They should develop it with hotels, tours, cruises and the whole nine yards!...................

[married21]

Today, it’s estimated that about 6 million indigenous Mayans still speak Mayan languages. Most of these people live in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. In Guatemala, there are 21 known Mayan languages, and there are eight more in Mexico.
Ancient Mayan Language - incamayanaztec.com
incamayanaztec.com/ancient-mayan-language.html

[Red Badger]

Yes, they are still around and they don’t like outsiders..............

[SES1066]

Oh horrors, there go those white scientist types again! (NASA credited with lots of development of LIDAR.)

[sphinx]

Maybe the Aztecs ate them.

[NEMDF]

Thanks for sharing. Fascinating!

[MrEdd]

The Maya answer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9YbICd43Mc

[DJ Taylor]

"Where did they all go?????...................

Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution (often referred to as The Theory of Survival of the Fittest) describes the positive effects resulting from any “pressure” on an animal species that removes the least fit among the species and allows only the most fit of the species to reproduce. Many of us are well aware of this “Survival of the Fittest” theory, but few are aware that Darwin also makes mention of the negative effects resulting from unlimited reproduction of a species’ least fit when the weak, the lazy, and the stupid are left unchecked.

We like to think otherwise, but our species, Homo sapiens-sapiens, isn’t that long “out of the trees” and the same laws of nature that affect all of God’s creatures apply equally to us. If we were to observe any other species that had been allowed to reproduce without limitations, we would know immediately what the consequences will be. Whenever the weak; lazy; and stupid of a species are allowed to reproduce unimpeded by predators that feed off the weak; lazy; and stupid, they soon outnumber the strong, productive, and intelligent.

When the weak/lazy/stupid dominate the gene pool, the entire population becomes weak/ lazy/stupid Liberal Democrats, and then the population collapses.

[Red Badger]

They didn’t have the heart to do it...............

[ckilmer]

I was in belize and the yucatan penninsula a couple times over the last couple of years. The impression that I got was that the maya was one continuous megacity from Guatemala to the Yucatan peninsula. Like what you’d see driving from Washington DC to Boston. Or Richmond to NYC.

The story that is emerging is that there was a mega drought about 800 AD. This was part of a climate change event that dried up the Mississippi valley allowing the cultivation of the rich Illinois lowlands by the people who made cahokia. The same climate event also made Scandinavia warmer so that population exploded.

The drought initially wiped out the lowland populations. The Yucatan survived longer on trade. There were horrific stories that involved human sacrifice that came out of the period. It was an honor for members of the priest class and nobility to sacrifice themselves..The mayan imagined a vain thing. They imagined that there was some sort of cause and effect to their sacrifices and weather events. After 800 no matter how much they sacrificed —the rains did not return.

By 880 AD even the Yucatan maya were severely weakened by drought and human sacrifice. The Toltec came down from Central Mexico and conquered a couple cities in the Yucatan. They introduced a new practice that the Aztecs would later emulate. They raided neighboring states just to grab neighboring warriors and elites for their human sacrifices.

Taken together, human sacrifice, war, and drought emptied the cities of the Maya. Leaving behind only some local farmers,

The weather changed again in 1300-1400. Europe grew colder. The rains returned to the Mississippi Valley and flooded out Cahokia. the rains also returned to the lands of the maya and covered over the region again with jungle.