For many years the prevailing debate about the Maya centred upon why their civilisation collapsed. Now, many scholars are asking: how did the Maya survive?
In certain aspects I think it makes more sense to compare the Maya not with Rome, but with the Celts: there was never a single “Celtland”, they spoke multiple albeit related languages, and their achievements are often underrated. (Remember Noric steel?)
What you see nowadays of the Celts is nothing but a small fragment of the past. And yet there was no such thing as a “Celtic collapse”; it’s just that the Borg to the south were a centralised force triggering war everywhere and exploiting size difference to assimilate even more.
In certain aspects I think it makes more sense to compare the Maya not with Rome, but with the Celts: there was never a single “Celtland”, they spoke multiple albeit related languages, and their achievements are often underrated. (Remember Noric steel?)
What you see nowadays of the Celts is nothing but a small fragment of the past. And yet there was no such thing as a “Celtic collapse”; it’s just that the Borg to the south were a centralised force triggering war everywhere and exploiting size difference to assimilate even more.
Perhaps it’s the same deal with the Maya?