Their 15 minutes of fame are over

Tikal, the Big Apple to the Mayans

The so-called Mayan calendar has elapsed and nothing untoward has occurred. Interest in the Maya will now recede in the U.S. consciousness, not to be arise in the popular press again, unless some new major artifact is unearthed (or a new tourism operator sets up shop). 

Classic Maya civilization developed, thrived and crumbled over the course of three baktuns, or about 1,200 years by our calendar. Archeologists and others disagree among themselves about why the Maya, as a civilization, bit the dust (there remain tens of thousands of Maya, especially in Guatemala, but they do not run the show).

Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, identified five strands of thought on why the Maya failed:

The growth of resources and population failed to balance, a dilemma foreseen by Thomas Malthus. 

While trying to feed enough people, farmers grew crops on too much of the landscape, leading to deforestation. 

Warfare increased, as more fights broke out over fewer resources. Apparently the Mayan principalities constantly fought among each other. 

The climate changed. The Maya got their start during a wet period lasting hundreds of years. At the civilization's height, severe droughts took hold, ruining crops year after year for decades. 

The kings and nobles failed to recognize and solve these seemingly obvious problems. Instead, they built expensive temples and monuments, waged wars and extracted food from the populace to support these activities. 

Do you see any similarities to our civilization? We expect our culture will live forever. Really? Only time will tell how many baktuns we have left. In the meantime, let's keep it light. The Mayan calendar is the chuckle everyone could use.

Postscript: News reports later today claimed that a new archeological study has found Mayan writings in stone suggesting the world will continue for another 7,000 years. So the Mayans have the last laugh after all.

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