THE MAYA: THEY NEVER DISAPPEARED

Episode 15 | Human History — Civilizations & EmpiresIn this History episode we focus on the Maya — a civilization whose Classic cities collapsed in the 9th century, whose books were burned by the Spanish, whose people survived conquest and genocide and cultural suppression, and whose 7 million living descendants maintain traditions across 30 languages today.This episode covers the great city-states of Tikal and Palenque and Calakmul, the Maya writing system and its 20th-century decipherment, the astronomical achievements including the Venus calendar, the multiple reinforcing causes of the Classic Collapse, the Spanish conquest and Diego de Landa's burning of the Maya books, and the LiDAR surveys revealing the full scale of the Classic urban network.The most important thing to say about the Maya is that five centuries of claims that they mysteriously vanished are simply false.#HistoryMystery #Maya #MayaCivilization #Mesoamerica #HistoryPodcast