ABSTRACT
Lowland Mesoamerican civilization arose from complex roots along the Gulf of Mexico Coast and in the Yucatán. The widespread Olmec tradition was one of the major inspirations for the emergence of more complex societies and distinctive religious beliefs. Ancient Maya civilization developed from about 1000 BC to AD 300, during centuries when the institution of kingship, written glyphs, and distinctive ritual beliefs developed at sites like Nakbé and El Mirador. Classic Maya civilization flourished between AD 300 and the tenth century, as a series of powerful city-states developed under hereditary dynasties at centers like Tikal, Uaxactún, and Calakmul, also Palenque and Copán. Climatological evidence shows these were centuries of plentiful rainfall and population growth. A series of drought cycles recorded in cave stalagmites, combined with social disorder and warfare, resulted in the tenth-century collapse of southern Maya city-states. The political center of Maya civilization moved to the northern Yucatán until the Spanish arrival in the fifteenth century.
