230 THE CLIMATIC FACTOR AS ILLUSTRATED IN ARID AMERICA. 



Another noticeable feature is that the culture of this time did not persist long. By 

 1,200 A. D. or earlier, serious civil wars appear to have broken out, and in general a period 

 of relative instabiUty ensued. Spinden describes this period as follows: 



"After the fall of Mayapan the Mayas seem to have been divided into many warring fac- 

 tions. All the great cities were abandoned, although the temples were still regarded as sacred. Of 

 course, stonebuilt architecture was still prevalent, as we know from some of the early descriptions 

 of towns on the coast. Learning was still maintained by the nobles and the priests. But there 

 was not the centralized authority necessary for the keeping up of such luxuriant capitols as existed 

 in the old days. At the present time certain ancient ideas still persist, as has already been stated 

 in connection with the ethnology of the Lacandone Indians. Upon the western highlands there 

 is another body of traditions which concern the Quiche, Cakohiquel, and other Mayan tribes, l)ut do 

 not go back for more than 200 years before the Spanish Conquest and are of very little real service. 

 All in all there is little to be said in favor of the frequent plaint that the coming of the white man 

 snuffed out a culture that promised great things. The golden days of the Maya civilization had 

 already passed, and, if we may judge by the history of other nations, would never have returned." 



To sum up the whole matter, the outstanding facts in Maya history seem to be as 

 follows: First, we have a long period of active development, diu-ing which the calendar was 

 evolved, and the arts of architecture and sculpture were gradually developed, although few 

 tangible evidences of this now remain. This time of marked growth, according to all 

 authorities, must have preceded the Christian era. Then comes a period when the previous 

 development flowered, as it were, in the building of the great cities of Copan, Quirigua, 

 Tikal, and presumably many others less well known. These first great cities were in the 

 southern part of the Maya area, on the borders of Honduras, or in eastern Guatemala. 

 They lasted perhaps three or four centuries, and then quickly declined. So far as we have 

 any evidence, civilization never revived in this southern area, for the structures of the great 

 period have not been rebuilt by later inhabitants. Toward the end of the period of great- 

 ness the center of Mayan culture moved northward into northern Peten and the jVIexican 

 provinces of Tabasco, Chiapas, and Yucatan. The great period, according to Bowditch, 

 lasted from approximately 100 b. c to 350 A. d. The more northern cities, perhaps, 

 flourished a Uttle after this time, but not for long. Then there came a time of very low 

 civilization, lasting for centuries. Apparently during these dark ages northern Yucatan 

 was the only place where civilization survived. A revival ensued about 900 or 1,000 years 

 after Christ, and architecture once more reached a high pitch. Yet there was no such 

 originality as during the earlier period, and marked progress was made only in northern 

 Yucatan; all the rest of the country seems to have remained in darkness. Moreover, this 

 medieval revival was relatively short-lived. We do not know its exact duration, but 

 apparently most of the important buildings were erected within the space of one or two 

 centuries. Since that time the condition of the Mayas has fluctuated more or less, but on 

 the whole there has been a decline. 



Already the reader has doubtless seen that the general history of the Mayas, in its 

 broader features, agrees with what we should expect from the pulsatory theory of climatic 

 changes; that is, there have been alternate periods of growth and decline, which occur in 

 just the way that we should expect on the supposition that changes of climate have been 

 an important factor in determining whether civilization was possible or not. If Bowditch's 

 method of dating Maya chronology is correct, times of favorable climatic conditions, as 

 indicated by our California trees, have also been times when the Mayas reached a high 

 stage of civilization. If the system of Seler is correct, there is probably also the same kind 

 of agreement, although this has not yet been carefully tested. If INIorley and Spinden are 

 correct, on the other hand, the events of Maya history since 600 A. d agree quite closely 

 with our expectations, but previous to 600 a. d. the agreement holds only imperfectly. 

 For the sake of convenience, the whole matter is sununed up briefly in Table 12. The 



