Shemyakin F.Ya. The collapse of the Classic Maya civilization: a mystery or a manifestation of the objective laws?

Abstract: the article is based on the winning paper of the First All-Russian Competition for school students on the topic of “History, Culture, Maya Epigraphy”, as held by the Knorozov Center for Mesoamerican Studies of the Russian State University for the Humanities in 2011. The article considers the most complicated and controversial topics in Maya researches: the mystery of the Maya civilization collapse in the 10th century. The author critically analyses the hypotheses solving that problem, formulates his own position and substantiates the conclusion. In his point of view the collapse of the Classic Maya society did not mean the collapse of Maya civilization as such, rather the deepest foundations of the Maya civilization survived after the so-called collapse of the Classical period and during the era of Spanish conquest and in the subsequent period up to the present days.

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