The Classic Maya Collapse: A Review of Evidence and Interpretations Page: 113

                                
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Here one must note, in the absence of an accompanying
drawing or photograph, that the bound captives seem in all
respects to be Maya, as they -exhibit no alien traits which
would connect them with an enemy from afar. This certainly
implies for Maya political organization a series of autono-
mous city-states of variable power which occasionally or for
sustained periods engaged in combat with each other. Spinden
felt that "Undoubtedly some cities were more progressive than
others of the same period" and that "Some were great centers
of wealth lying in fruitful lands, while others were poor in
resourcesand perhaps held in tribute. "31
Thomas A. Joyce soon followed Spinden's study with a
careful synthesis of what was known of Mexican archaeology
in 1914. He detected no signs of violent destruction of Maya
buildings, and remarked that
The Maya, to judge from the monuments, had enjoyed
centuries of peace, and only in the northeast and
north do we find reliefs which give any hint of war.
But these may be significant, and no doubt the de-
cline of the old culture .was due to pressure exer-
cised by their northern neighbors, a pressure which
had its origin in the steady southerly drift of
tribes from regions considerably further north, and
which led to the occupation of the Mexican valley
by the Nahua-speaking Toltec.32
Like Edward Thompson, Joyce believed the Toltec to have been
related to the Maya. They had left the Maya region to journey
north and remain for centuries before the southerly advance of
non-related northern tribes pushed them southward again.33
31.  Ibid, p. 165.      32.  Joyce, Mexican Archaeology, pp. 364-65.
33. Ibid, pp. 365-66.