Introduction
Ancient Maya civilization is considered to take one of the important places for Central American topics. The Classic Maya collapse appeared to be the major puzzle of world history keeping a lot of secrets for modern scholars. As the results of Maya investigation have shown, not all of its centers were completely abandoned. The period of Maya collapse refers to abandonment and decline of Maya cities during 8-9th centuries. For modern archeology this epoch appeared to be one of the greatest mysteries. The secrets of Maya epoch cover the aspect of their control system and Maya elite order.
Main body
Maya elite never became completely obsolete regarding divine mediators. Colonial Maya society may seem to be perceived as flattened out. The shape of Maya inner structure and authorities’ obligations and rules changed in accordance with squat pyramid. At the bottom of this pyramid were personal retainers and slaves while elite of Maya was at the top. The strictly established rules and accommodations of Maya society influence every aspect of people’s life. The methods of social control worked out by Maya elite interfered with all sides of human activities introducing complete changes to its system. The subdivision of Maya into social classes identified the presentation of inequality within social groups. Top classes of Maya civilization consisted of special councilors, priests and leading chiefs.
Social order conveyed the traditions and customs of sacrificing carrying out both in private for the kings and in public for the whole society. Only the low classes suffered such customs for disorder or disastrous life mistakes. The structure of Maya society is considered to be rather sophisticated; the level of subordination within social groups depended upon different social sections and subdivisions of major classes. Thus, elite has major power to control the system of Maya civilization through its authority and fixed rules.
A lot of well known professors and scholars tried to offer their theories as to Maya social order, rules within society and causes of its collapse. For example, Thomas Gann expressed his view in personal theory as to Maya collapse; he stated that climate conditions appeared to be the stimulator of the disastrous crash experienced by Maya civilization.
The analysis of Maya civilization has shown that Maya culture was one of the most powerful in its time. Despite the fall of Maya rulers the power of this society was really significant. People tried to act as one unit struggling for any chance to survive. It is important to stress that some regions of Maya had limited access to the water supply. As a result Maya elite strived to organize different construction projects aimed at formation of water distribution apparatus established in small and large centers.
So, as it was shown Maya civilization is considered to be a powerful cultural unit, a strong social circle fighting for its right to exist. The collapse of this civilization was merely caused by limited aces to water; as a result their power of supernatural forces was limited. They could not make rains come any more; all these failures resulted in complete failure of Maya political system. Nevertheless, Maya civilization left a significant print in the world history and will remain the greatest enigma for modern archeologists and scholars.
References
Webster, David. The Fall of the Ancient Maya: Solving the Mystery of the Maya Collapse. Thames & Hudson. 2002.