▶ Your Answer :
According to the reading passage, There are 3 main reasons that explain why the great Maya Empire collapsed. However, the lecturer argues that those reasons are not likely to be true.
First, the professor insists that there is no record of social turmoil. In fact, Mayan civilization is well known for its delicate writing system so if social upheaval has actually happened, there should be a historical record of it. Also, the structure of the Mayan government is highly decentralized. So even if uprising did occur, it might not have been spread to the entire empire. This view doesn't correspond with the reading passage's assertion that a peasant revolution due to heavy forced work caused the devastation of a Mayan city.
Second, the professor contends that the historical record is incompatible with reading passage's argument. The famous trade route, Teotihuacan, had actually begun to decline in the 6th century before the fall of the Maya empire. Since the gap between the time when the route had been out of use and the demise of Maya is more than one hundred years, change in prevalent trade hub couldn't be the evidence of Maya mystery. This doesn't match with the reading passage's point that economic harshness due to change of Teotihuacan leads to the demise of Maya civilization. Finally, the professor says that the spread of the epidemic could not be the reason for the collapse. Those serious epidemics are brought to the land at 16 century, at the time when Maya cities were already gone. Also, there is no evidence that hundreds of people died rapidly. For these reasons, the reading passage's argument that widespread of diseases accelerated by suitable climate and dense population caused the collapse of civilization. |