The classic maya collapse: the end of the mystery?

Résumé du document

The fall of the Late Classic Maya civilization created an outburst and a conclusion was arrived as ?The end of the mystery phase'. In other words, one can say that the mystery has eclipsed. As famous as the southern lowlands, the Maya civilization had gained its identity for its unique art and architecture. However, their importance has increased even after its downfall and a situation known as ?the Maya Collapse' (Evans 2008:318) was introduced. A myth was progressively created, known as ?the myth of the mysterious Maya' once again coined by Evans 2008:318. This myth has particularly captured strong public interest and imagination and has further triggered a controversial debate among scholars who have attempted to solve this long standing conundrum. The fascination around this enigma is illustrated by the huge number of publications which deal with this theme. Indeed, ?the available books and articles about them [as per the Classic Maya of the southern lowlands] outnumber those pertaining to any other Mesoamerican culture of similar temporal and spatial extent' (Evans 2008:318).

Extraits

[...] - Unjustified assertions and misinformation VS scientific precaution From the Second World War, the importance of scientific expertise has dramatically increased in our modern societies since they allow governments to legitimate their policies which are then more easily accepted by the public opinion. Science is an efficient means of legitimacy as people are more likely to trust scientists and experts who appeared really knowledgeable. Therefore, this scientific value was used in both articles but at different levels. In effect, on the one hand, the author of the U.S. News and World Report's one said that his information were based on the work of a “multidisciplinary team” composed of scientists including archaeologists, zoologists and nutritionists” who studied “some 200 sites” (1995:74). [...]

[...] News and World Report, the third most sold magazine in the United States after Time and Newsweek. My purpose here is less to discuss the different hypotheses which have been proposed to solve the conundrum than analyze how a same topic could be differently broached by a scholarly article on the one hand and by a popular one on the other. Commercial objective VS “disinterested” search for First of all, the main purpose of these two articles was truly different. [...]

[...] Moreover, while scholars only proposed theories to understand the cause of the Maya collapse, Fenyvesi intended to solve the mystery. For instance, he wrote that the Demarest's team “will reveal this week at a conference at the University of California that the explanation is very familiar” (1995:74). On the other hand, the two scholars rigorously applied the scientific method: they attempted to approach the truth, not to reveal it as the journalist suggested it. First of all, they formulated a hypothesis, class conflict hypothesis” (1980:248) or “peasant rebellion hypothesis” (1980:250), and then attempted to it using evidence they thought relevant. [...]

[...] Indeed, the journalist analyzed the Maya collapse through western eyes: he was not able to understand and appreciate the Maya culture in terms of itself and largely used stereotypes to depict it. First of all, he described the political situation in the Late Classic period making a comparison with the European history. For instance, he wrote that "the Mayas paid a terrible price for internecine war waged in the pursuit of elite wealth and power” and that study suggests that the Maya elite committed the equivalent of collective suicide in the ninth century at the time Charlemagne united Western Europe” (1995:74). [...]

[...] References cited Evans, Susan T Ancient Mexico & Central America, Archaeology and Culture History. Thames & Hudson, New York Hamblin, Robert L. & Pitcher Brian L The Classic Maya Collapse: Testing Class Conflict Hypotheses. American Antiquity 246-267 Fenyvesi, Charles 1995 Deadly Maya secrets. U.S. News & World Report 119(7): 74 Glaze, Mark 1994 Cultural relativism. http://www.utpa.edu/faculty/mglazer/Theory/cultural_relativism.htm Barger, Ken 2004 Ethnocentrism. What is it? Why are people ethnocentric? [...]