The Classic Maya Collapse: A Review of Evidence and Interpretations Page: 125
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invaders the chance to establish themselves at Seibal and
Ucanal and, perhaps, earlier at Altar de Sacrificios."54
J. Eric Thompson's reconstruction of a peasant revolt
and explanation of Mexican influences is wholly within the
bounds of logic given the information presently available.
Reviewing Thompson's theory, George Cowgill concedes that "it
does seem a perfectly plausible suppostion," but "I know of no
real evidence that such a sequence of events actually occured."55
Nor does anyone else. Others who have examined much of the same
evidence as Thompson suggest the collapse should be attributed
to inter-city warfare between the Maya themselves. Beginning
with the discovery of the Bonampak murals in 1946, the tradi-
tional view of the Classic Maya as "one of the least warlike
nations who ever existed" has come under fire.56.The colorful
Bonampak murals present a vivid scene of capture and subsequent
torture of prisoners, and though J. Eric Thompson maintains
this depicts a mere raid and should not be interpreted as an
evidence of a people preoccupied with war, a number of recent
discoveries haveshown the Maya very much practiced in the art
of warfare, as Maler earlier surmised..7
54. Ibid, p. 43.
55. George Cowgill, "The End of Classic Maya Culture: A Review
of Recent Evidences," Southwestern Journal of Anthropology,
vol. 20, no. 2 (1964), 154.
56. Thomas W. F. Gann and J.. Eric S. Thompson, The History of
the Maya (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,, 1937),, p. 63.
57. Karl J. Ruppert, J. Eric S. Thompson, and Tatiana Proskouri-
akoff, Bonampak, Chiapas, Mexico, Carnegie Institution of Wash-
ington Publ i no. 62~~(W hington, D.UC.: Carngi~Int-
tutin, )9-55, p. 51.
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Wood, Jeffrey Clark. The Classic Maya Collapse: A Review of Evidence and Interpretations, thesis, December 1977; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc504349/m1/129/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .