Question

Early theories of the Maya civilization's sudden decline in the 9th century emphasized catastrophic agricultural failure due to rapid population growth that exceeded the carrying capacity of the land. However, comprehensive paleoclimate studies of sediment cores from Lake Chichancanab reveal that extreme, prolonged drought periods did not uniformly coincide with the highest population densities; many of the most severe droughts occurred while population levels were already in decline or relatively low, suggesting that ______
A) population growth was the primary factor in overutilizing resources.
B) the Maya civilization’s population levels were unrelated to environmental changes.
C) agricultural collapse was caused more by systemic societal failure than by environmental stress.
D) catastrophic droughts did not require high population levels to induce a crisis.

Answer 1

C) agricultural collapse was caused more by systemic societal failure than by environmental stress.

Explanation: If the most severe droughts often postdate or coincide with already-low populations, drought alone (or population-driven overuse) can't fully explain the collapse; the evidence points toward internal social, political, or economic breakdowns playing a major role.