The Fall of the Ancient Maya

Summary

Dan Snow’s History Hit – "The Fall of the Ancient Maya" (August 6, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dan Snow continues his immersive exploration of Maya civilization, focusing specifically on the so-called "Maya Collapse." Set against the atmospheric backdrop of Belizean jungles and sacred caves, and featuring expert voices including archaeologist Raphael, Maya expert Dr. Adrian Chase, and local guide Reuben Averallo, the episode investigates the true causes and lived reality of the ancient Maya’s decline. The podcast blends vivid travelogue, archaeological insights, and local Maya perspectives to question old tropes of abrupt, catastrophic collapse and instead uncovers a nuanced process of transformation, resilience, and ongoing cultural survival.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. First European Contact & The Maya World at Spanish Arrival

• [01:39 – 05:35]
  Dan opens with a dramatic historical vignette of the first encounter between Maya traders and Columbus’s fleet in 1502. Maya society was already in decline by European arrival: many cities abandoned, monuments overtaken by vegetation.
• Quote:
  “They discovered they were in fact enormous ships...This was the first contact between the Maya and the ships of Christopher Columbus...for the Maya, the Spanish conquest was merely the final blow in a long unraveling.” — Dan Snow [01:39]

2. Sacred Landscape: The Cave Rituals of the Maya

• [05:35 – 17:41]
  Dan explores Aktun Chapat ('Centipede Cave'), a sacred Maya cave associated with rituals and human sacrifices, guided by archaeologist Raphael.
• Maya worldview: Animistic, with nature (mountains, caves, rivers, animals, maize) imbued with sacred power. Caves were seen as liminal spaces, portals to the supernatural.
• Rituals included offerings (seeds, crops), bloodletting, use of hallucinogens, and, during crises, human sacrifice—especially of children, seen as ultimate gifts to the gods, particularly during droughts.
• Quotes:
  • “The Maya perceived the underworld to have nine different levels...the place where the gods commune...where life comes from.” — Raphael [10:08]
  • “You’re bringing seeds and you hope you get agriculture.” — Raphael [13:50]
  • “The concept of human sacrifice for the Maya is sort of that ultimate gift that you can give to the gods, the ultimate blood gift.” — Raphael [16:15]
  • “In one particular cave...we found over 49,000 human bones. And most of those were...younger individuals, younger children.” — Raphael [20:22]

3. Drought, Crisis, and Societal Decline

• [17:41 – 27:44]
  Evidence shows a direct link between climate stress (notably droughts) and an uptick in cave rites and human sacrifices. During the final centuries of the Classic period (c. 750–950 AD) major cities are abandoned, population plummets, monument-building ceases.
• Human remains, particularly of children, surged as the Maya desperately tried to win back gods’ favor for rain and fertility.

4. Rethinking “Collapse”: Transition & Adaptation

• [27:44 – 36:01]
  Dr. Adrian Chase provides academic context: The Maya decline was gradual (a 200-year process, not an overnight apocalypse), varying by region, and involved a complex mixture of changing climate, economic breakdown, and social reorganization.
• Trade networks broke down; interior jungle cities lost prominence.
• Societal transformation: Shift from huge centralized cities ruled by divine kings to smaller settlements and new social structures. Decline for cities, but not extinction for the Maya people.
• Quotes:
  • “You have this 200 year period where you see a cessation of monumental writing...likely that it’s a mix of factors. For some places, it’s environmental. For others...trade a lot more difficult.” — Dr. Adrian Chase [27:44]
  • “Another way to think of this collapse is a transformation of society...they give up the divine kingship.” — Dr. Adrian Chase [28:38]
  • “So this is not a cinematic depiction of collapse here...this feels more like transition, more like adaptation.” — Dan Snow [31:29]

5. Survivors, Trade, and the Afterlife of Cities

• [36:01 – 41:00] After Classic period collapse, power shifted to northern cities like Chichen Itza, which flourished due to fertile land, water, and coastal trade networks.
• Spanish conquest: Population not erased, but weakened by disease, warfare, and social disruption.
• Integration and resistance: Some Spaniards assimilated into Maya communities, some Maya fiercely resisted.

6. Lamanai: A City that Endured

• [43:38 – 54:21] Dan visits Lamanai (“submerged crocodile”), a Maya city that persisted through the collapse and into the Spanish era, thriving thanks to its riverside location, fertile soil, and fresh water. Guide Reuben Averallo explains Lamanai’s history and resilience.
• Drought and deforestation (caused by growth and success) caused central lowland collapse, but Lamanai survived due to its resources.
• When Spanish colonialists built churches atop Maya sites, Maya responded with subtle resistance, hiding their own gods within church walls and later burning down colonial structures.
• Quotes:
  • “We have basically concrete evidence for about 3,000 years of occupation.” — Reuben Averallo [44:30]
  • “Mayas were victims of their own success...big cities, you have to clear the jungle...no rain...drought comes.” — Reuben Averallo [45:19]
  • “They put all these gods in the walls, they finished the...altar section...then they rebelled and kicked the Spaniards out.” — Reuben Averallo [51:45]

7. The Maya Today: Resilience and Continuity

• [56:30 – 59:07] Modern Maya communities in Belize carry on traditions, languages, and a profoundly different concept of wealth.
• Young Maya, like Juan Kaal, express pride in their continued existence and cultural inheritance.
• Quote:
  • “To be Maya means that we have our lands, we have resources, we have beautiful landscapes...as we continue to be Maya in the 21st century...we will prevail.” — Juan Kaal [57:31]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On human sacrifice in caves, and the sacredness of the acts:
  • “The concept of human sacrifice...is that ultimate gift...your ace in the pocket...and when you really, really need, that’s when you can pull it out.” — Raphael [17:31]
• On the personal experience of the sacred cave:
  • “You imagine them offering up a child to be sacrificed...something that just stops you in your tracks about seeing human remains, especially in a place as atmospheric as this.” — Dan Snow [21:38–22:05]
• On the resilience and endurance of the Maya people:
  • “Their way of life endured through the families that did survive...the Maya people remained.” — Dan Snow [54:21]
  • “We are collectively here to celebrate each other being Maya in the 21st century...that as we continue to be Maya...nothing should ever stop us.” — Juan Kaal [57:31]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:39 — Spanish arrival; Maya already in decline
• 05:35 — Entering Aktun Chapat cave, Maya cosmology
• 10:08 — Nine levels of the Maya underworld
• 13:34 — Rituals and offerings in sacred caves
• 15:09 — Bloodletting, hallucinogens, and spiritual experience
• 16:09–20:31 — Human sacrifice; drought and ritual intensification
• 27:44 — Dr. Adrian Chase: the slow, complex nature of “collapse”
• 31:29 — Adaptation, not apocalypse: shifting trade and society
• 36:01 — Chichen Itza, northern resilience
• 43:45 — Lamanai: persistent Maya city, guide interview
• 45:19 — Environmental causes: drought, deforestation, population loss
• 51:45 — Maya resistance and reclaiming sacred spaces
• 57:31 — Celebration of contemporary Maya identity (Juan Kaal)

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Summary/Conclusion

Dan Snow’s journey into the heart of the Maya world challenges the simple explanation of a catastrophic collapse. It uncovers a story of resilience, adaptation, and transformation. Ancient rituals in the darkness of sacred caves, acts of spiritual desperation in the face of drought, the slow disintegration of trade and urban society, and the ongoing resistance to colonial pressures—all converge to tell a complex tale. The decline of monumental centers was not the end: contemporary Maya communities continue traditions, language, and identity, drawing strength from the ingenuity and endurance of their ancestors. The “collapse” was not extinction; it was survival and evolution in new forms.

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For listeners seeking an evocative, on-the-ground account—and an expert-led reframing—of Maya history, this episode is both moving and deeply informative.

Transcript

[Dan Snow]

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[Dan Snow]

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[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

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[Dan Snow]

It was 1502 in the Gulf of Honduras. An extraordinary meeting was about to take place. In a hollowed out Tree trunk canoe, 25 Maya men, women and children made their way across open water towards an island. With them, goods to trade with other indigenous communities. In their boat was packed brightly colored cotton clothing, flint knives, hardwood swords. At their feet lay the most precious cargo of all, cacao beans. Suddenly they noticed something on the horizon. What looked like three floating islands with tall trees stripped bare, standing upright with ropes hanging down. As they paddled closer, they saw dark masses moving. Only faces and hands could be seen, but unlike the Maya, these faces were covered in hair. The Maya had never seen anything like it. As the canoes got close to the islands, those aboard discovered they were in fact enormous boats or ships I should say. Rope ladders were thrown down by the odd looking crewmen and setting an example, the Maya chief climbed up. Gifts were exchanged, amazement on both sides. Neither could speak the other's language, but they examined each other's clothes, faces and ornaments with awe and wonder. This was the first contact between the Maya and the ships of Christopher Columbus on his fourth voyage of Discovery. It wouldn't be for another nine years, when a Spanish ship wrecked off the coast of Cozumel, that the Spanish set foot on Maya land. Those first steps were the death knell of the great Mesoamerican civilizations, Aztec, Inca and Maya, all brought to their knees by disease and the violence of Europeans who had come searching for gold and souls to save. But what's interesting about the Maya in particular is that when the Spanish arrived, they found a society already in decline, a civilization where the great cities had already been abandoned, where populations were dwindling and where monuments were already strangled by vegetation, with little explanation as to why. For the Maya, the Spanish conquest was merely the final blow in a long unraveling, something that still puzzles experts today. So what exactly happened to the Maya? You're listening to Dan Snow's History and this is part two of our miniseries as we continue our journey deep into the jungles of Belize to trace the rise and fall of this once mighty ancient culture that mastered the sweltering tropics of the rainforests and the arid mountains of Central America, who built one of the world's most extraordinary ancient civilizations and then fell apart. This is episode two, the Maya Collapse. This Belizean jungle is something else. It's a verdant wonderland of colour. I've never seen so many different shades. Green, it's so thick that you cannot see, sometimes more than a meter or two from the trail I'm hiking along now, in these rainforests, there is jaguar pumas, ocelots and jaguarundies, and there are howler monkeys. Then above me in the canopy, I can hear the calls of the toucans and the parrots and parakeets. And if you stop for a second, you just catch a little flit of them going from branch to branch, little dash of colour in amongst the green of the trees. I really can appreciate why the Maya believed that the natural world was divine. It was alive with spiritual forces. Anthropologists describe their worldview as animistic. That is to say that they believe that mountains and caves and rivers and animals and something as mundane as maize could possess sacred power. For them, the forests and the rain and the landscapes, they weren't just resources. They were part of a sacred environment inhabited by gods, inhabited by ancestors and powerful beings. And they believed they had to keep these forces and entities in balance. They needed to maintain the cosmic balance, stop anything disastrous from happening. And the way that they attempt to do that was through performing ritual. And there were certain places, you will not be surprised to learn, that were Especially key to those practices that were especially sacred. And I'm walking up to one now. There's a vast limestone cliff. You can see the white of the rock against the green of the jungle. I've walked up to it now, and there's a small entrance to a cave on my left. I could probably crawl through that. But to my right is a much, much bigger entrance. This some stalactites hanging from the roof. There's some creepers from the forestry above climbing down into the entrance of the cave. This is a beautiful place. And to the Maya, it was more than beautiful, it was sacred. It was enormously special because in the rainy season in particular, there would have been a gush of water emerging from this cave mouth to irrigate the channels and the terraces below. It was literally life giving. This is known as the Aktun Chapat Cave, the Centipede cave. I'm a bit nervous about what that entails. We've been given special permission to film and it's not open to people, no tourists, no locals, although many caves in Belize are. And the reason I'm here, the reason this is so special, is this is a place where archaeologists know that Maya human sacrifices took place. There are artifacts still in this cave. So I'm heading in to see what we can find. And up here at the mouth of the cave, I am meeting Raphael, the archaeologist. How are you doing, buddy?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Morning, dad.

[Dan Snow]

Thanks for waiting for me here.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

No problem.

[Dan Snow]

What an astonishing place. You can see why this was sacred cathedral like to the Maya.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yes, exactly. If you look at the entrance, this would be seen as a liminal space, a boundary between the natural and supernatural world. Here, entrances like this are entrance or portals into that supernatural realm where the Maya are able to connect to their ancestors as well as those spirits who take care of the world around them. So certain times of the year, even today, they might as well go to entrances like this, perform rituals, trying to get fertility and especially when it comes to rain, as well as agriculture itself.

[Dan Snow]

Here in Belize, it's a limestone landscape, a lot of it. There must be caves under the ground. You must be finding new caves all the time. Exploring.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Exactly. For the last 25 years, I've been exploring through various different parts of the jungle. In fact, my first trip here was in 1998, about 28 years ago. And just coming through here, we can spot about 12 different caves in the area.

[Dan Snow]

There's some quite savage exposure on this entrance. Lots of shock drops. How are we gonna get in there?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yeah, so right now we're gonna go here on the left side. As we move along close to that wall, we're gonna set up some ropes so we can move along easily. The ancient Maya probably had some kind of system set up almost like a stairway or entranceway into here that is now long collapse along the way. So likely they had something set up here that they could easily move into the cave itself.

[Dan Snow]

Maya loved to mold and shape the landscape, didn't they?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Exactly. The Maya are very connected to their landscape and using it to their advantage. Early on, as I was walking up, I saw a lot of these check dams or weirs along the old creek bed, as well as farming terraces and one of the small little structures on the ground. We can see how the Maya are modifying the landscape to suit their needs as time goes along. A lot of these actually start to happen after 600 AD, especially around caves where we see a lot more intense use and a lot more modification of the landscape at that point in time.

[Dan Snow]

Lead the way. That's amazing. We're now climbing on all fours, really vertically up this side of this big, big cavern here.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

The Maya perceived the underworld to have nine different levels.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, really?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Now it is four levels going down, a fifth level at the bottom, and then four levels coming back up. The fifth level is meant to be a big, big open space where the gods commune.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

And in my experience, doing caves across Belize, big, big open spaces is generally when you find more activity.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Because these are perceived again by the Maya to be where the gods commune or they're omnipresent. And certain deities are believed to live or dwell in the underworld. Most of those are earth related spirits, which include mountain gods, earth lords, agricultural deities. In the Maya creation mythology, both the sun and the moon emerged from the underworld at the beginning of time. So caves Xibalba, the underworld, is in the place of where life comes from. So it's an important space for the ancient Maya.

[Dan Snow]

And so we are heading now to

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

a big open space now.

[Dan Snow]

Exciting.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

We should see more material as we move into that space.

[Dan Snow]

But under our feet, we're seeing so many shards of earthenware pottery.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Last time we came up here, we

[Dan Snow]

saw it in Centipede. Oh, my God. And that's why the cave is called Centipede Cave, right?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yes. We regularly see centipedes in this cave here. Oftentimes the Maya would have to submit to crawling like this then, especially when you're getting into big open rooms, sort of submitting to the gods of the underworld so they can get into that open space.

[Dan Snow]

How Are the Maya seeing when they're in here?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

So when the Maya are traveling through spaces like this, they're using torches usually made from pitch pine. The first group that came in here in 1982 actually identified several pieces of torches in here.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Oh, really?

[Dan Snow]

Wow.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

In the very back, close to what we call the skylight, we have holes that's been cut into the walls as torch holders.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, cool.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Light is very interesting in here. Light will spread across limestone. This is just his natural ability of limestone to spread light across the room.

[Dan Snow]

Beautiful.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Maybe up here we can do a little test up here so you can see what it looks like.

[Dan Snow]

This is just every single corner you turn here, you see some wild new, something different.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

I mean, I've been into this cave quite a handful of times, and every time I come in, I see something new in this cave itself. And imagine the Maya coming in all the time, well, at least once a year. But you'd have fires going, music going, probably imbibing in some kind of alcoholic drink.

[Dan Snow]

This is crazy. This is like an aircraft hangar sized space.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

If you look in, even in these corners, you can start to see ceramics in there. You know, ceramics over here?

[Dan Snow]

Yeah. There's a huge amount on the floor here. This is a very, very big chamber here.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

So here, like I told you, that big open space I was talking about, this is what we're looking at here. And when we get to open spaces like this, we tend to find hearts. We'll see if we see one. Usually they're kind of hard to spot because there are only three rocks on the ground in a triangular formation. Then you see charcoal and ashes in the middle.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, like a hearth. Okay.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yeah. And they serve to create light in here.

[Dan Snow]

Yeah, it's completely crazy.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Even underneath, if you look closely underneath here, you can see material underneath here just kind of popping out.

[Dan Snow]

What sort of rituals are taking place here? What are they doing here?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

So in this case here, what we're seeing in this cave here is mostly related to agriculture. So bringing gifts behind, leaving them behind for the rain gods to use so they can create the right amount of rainfall for the planting season.

[Dan Snow]

And what kind of gifts are those?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

In most cases, they tend to be seeds. When they find them that they're preserved, they generally corn, beans, and squash is the most common that we see. A lot of what happens in caves like this pertains to fertility in crops itself, and also a bit of sympathetic magic. So you bring things that you're hoping to get similar to. So you're bringing seeds and you hope you get agriculture.

[Dan Snow]

And what about blood? Are people sacrificing their own, offering their own blood?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

So, yeah, we see mostly the upper class. Of course, they're rich, so they can use proxy blood. So you can choose somebody to release that blood for yourself. But the blood is released from different parts of the body. It drops into a bowl, and that bowl is lined with bark or cloth. Then they add the SAP from the kopal tree and they burn it to this ritual burning. They're meant to see something we call the vision serpent, which is a meteor, a way of communing with the supernatural world. Of course, we know that when you're doing this, you're likely taking some kind of psychoactive material. And in Belize, there's no lack of that. We have one specific animal called the cane toad. This is an alkaloid and two glands behind its eyes here. And then ingested in the right amount, you can get high from it. Then there's a lot of plants, including the nightshades. We have a big group of nightshades in the Maya area.

[Dan Snow]

So are you telling me they're coming in here? They're taking part in religious rituals. It is the most dramatic and spooky place in the world. And they're also taking hallucinogens.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

The hallucinogen, or the psychoactive material allows you to have that spiritual journey into the supernatural world. And it's very common among many groups across the Americas, from North America to South America. In North America, we see the use of peyote, one of the cacti in that area. In this area, we have a lot of different plants we can use. And for the result, we see the use of the ayahuasca vine.

[Dan Snow]

I can't think of a more intense experience than coming into this cave with fire and lots of other people and chanting and hallucinogens and a powerful sense of belief. I mean, it must have been overwhelming.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Oh, definitely. And you think about the people who are being brought in as those human offerings as well. So it's not just you coming with these gifts, but at some point in time, they're bringing physical humans that are being left behind for human sacrifice as well.

[Dan Snow]

So you think that humans would have been brought into this cave and sacrificed? Is that a regular thing or an extremist?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

It is something that we still struggle with trying to figure out. When are humans being brought in? We know that early on we see human sacrifice, especially on the outside. They're tied to different things across. And specifically in caves, you're tied to agriculture and Fertility. The concept of human sacrifice for the Maya is sort of that ultimate gift that you can give to the gods, the ultimate blood gift you can give them.

[Dan Snow]

Now everything I'm seeing suddenly looks like a piece of bone.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

Yeah.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

So a lot of deformations in here because they are made of calcium. When they fall on the ground in this light that we have, they tend to look like bones. And that's one of the issues we had in the 1990s when we were doing research. We didn't have LED lights, it was all halogen. So we had to be very careful as to what we labeled or tagged as human remains or human bones.

[Dan Snow]

When do you think in particular humans would have been sacrificed?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

When there's extreme conditions, such as dry, dry conditions. And this is when we see, when we look at the paleo climate record and the instance of human sacrifices in caves, they sort of match.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, interesting.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

When there's drier conditions, we have more human bones as opposed to when there's wetter conditions.

[Dan Snow]

So it's seen as a high value. It's a particularly precious thing to sacrifice the gods.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yes. Essentially it's sort of a high value commodity. It's sort of your ace in the pocket as such, you know, and when you really, really need, that's when you can pull it out and put it on the table.

[Dan Snow]

This could be a member of the community, someone precious to those, to those people.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

In most instances that we've seen and from Spanish record indicates that likely inside caves, it would have been a bit more voluntary. But in some cases we do find where people are interpreted as being captives of war. And we know that often when the Maya captured high ranking officials from different cities, they would be used as human offerings as well. So it's not just relegated to your own community, but something that is very, very precious to you.

[Dan Snow]

Do you think this space might have been used for things like that?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yeah. In general, we see that the Maya would have a specific place for human offerings or human sacrifices. So it would bring people in. There are spaces like this where likely they're using to do human sacrifices. The Spanish, when it came to the New World, they spoke about some of these sacrifices at Chichen Itza. And it shows that when they're sacrificing people by different methods, the most common that we see is the removal of the heart, where they cut below the ribcage and then pull the heart from the person, presumably while they're still alive. You can see some bigger pieces of shards down here and over here.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, no, there we go. Is that a human jaw?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yeah.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yep, exactly. It's a human mandible right there.

[Dan Snow]

You're kidding.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

May have been washed down for a little bit further back in here. Because it's the mandible, normally it'll find the rest of the head still close by.

[Dan Snow]

It's only just sticking on the mud. So it's

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

that there. Right there. Looks like teeth.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, yeah.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Just embedded in the rock itself.

[Dan Snow]

That is amazing.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Let's go around here, see if we see any more remains. It might be covered in mud itself.

[Dan Snow]

And given this feels like a place where the sediment has been coming and going, there's a lot of flooding, and so we just seam there, sticking out of that silt, the lower jaw of a human being. And given that it's very dynamic in here, there's lots of flooding and deposition and silt. This had just been uncovered. It could have been a product of erosion. It's possible. This hasn't ever been seen before since that unfortunate person was brought in here and sacrificed. So towards the end of the Maya period, you mentioned 600 things of the drying up towards the end, towards 900, 950. Are you seeing a lot of human sacrifice?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yes, we are seeing a lot more human sacrifice during that time, as well as a lot more material inside caves. In fact, in general, we see almost 95% of caves are being used at this time.

[Dan Snow]

Wow.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Prior to that, we don't see as much use. In one particular cave. I had an opportunity to be going into, we found over 49,000 human bones.

[Optum Advertiser]

What?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

49,000. Now, if you think about how many bones a human has and you translate into 49,000, that's a lot of people that we're looking at. And most of those were, in fact, younger individuals, younger children, which is something that we see a trend all the way. Until Spanish show up, that the Maya were preferring to have younger individuals as part of that sacrificial offering to the rain gods themselves.

[Dan Snow]

I suppose there's nothing more precious than your community's kids.

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

Yes, a bit of innocence, but also it's an ultimate sacrifice for. For the parents to help the community.

[Dan Snow]

Is it possible to tell? Do you think that's an adult or a child?

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

It's hard to say. So heavily calcified here. But just the fact that there's several pieces might indicate it's a younger individual, because different parts of the bones and the skull start to fuse at different parts or different times in the year or years. And it could be because it's coming apart that it Might be a younger individual. And it's not. All the pieces are fused together.

[Dan Snow]

We're now just spread out. We're searching along the edge of this sediment pile where it meets the bedrock, to try and see if we can find any more human remains. And it's quite overwhelming, really. It almost leaves you speechless. Because I was beginning to think I sort of recognized the Maya. There's the massive building projects and the irrigation and the focus on food and the charismatic leaders galloping off the wall with people following them dutifully behind. And it felt like a culture that I recognized from other periods of history and even my own lifetime. But then you come into a cave like this, you penetrate deep, deep, deep into the earth. You see evidence of what was going on here. You imagine the flickering torchlight and the hallucinogenic drugs and the chanting, and you imagine them offering up a child to be sacrificed. There's something that just stops you in your tracks about seeing human remains, especially in a place as atmospheric as this. I don't think I've ever been anywhere like it. The idea that you find that jawbone probably belonging to a victim of human sacrifice, and for a thousand years it's just been here in the dark with water slowly dripping on it from up above, it makes this story of the Maya seem so much more human. I've climbed giant pyramids, seen huge cities in the jungle. But here is one fragment of someone who actually experienced that culture, that world. Finally, you get up face to face with a Maya. You listen to Dan Snow's history. Don't go anywhere. There's more to come. Summer's here, and that means travel season is in full swing. Road trips, last minute flights, quick weekend getaways, or anything else that feels like an escape. And sure, travel can be a little chaotic. Plans change, things go off track. But that's what makes it memorable. Tell my wife that when you're out there making the most of it, it helps to have somewhere reliable waiting for you. That's why Best Western Hotels and Resorts is such a solid option. It's cozy, convenient, and exactly what you need after a full day of exploring, wandering, or just figuring it out as you go. This summer, get 1,000 bonus points and a chance to win 250,000 bonus points. So wherever you're headed, make your stay, part the journey and make it count. With this limited time offer, life's a trip. Make the most of it@best Western.com no additional purchase necessary. For sweeps, see Bonus Points, TNCs and sweeps rules for details and visit BestWestern.com for complete terms and conditions. You're locked into a lot of things you can't change weather, traffic. Hey, stay in your lane. Your wireless carrier's latest price hike. But you can unlock a better way. Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to 6, $600 a year. Switch to the $25 a month Unlimited Wireless Plan. No contracts, no price hikes, and you keep your phone. Stop being locked into their games. Unlock the [e-mail] unlock based on average annual single line of payment of AT&T Verizon and T Mobile customers, compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless plan as of January 2026.

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What started the civil war?

[Dan Snow]

What ended the conflict in Vietnam?

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Who was Paul Revere and did the Vikings ever reach America?

[Dan Snow]

I'm Don Wildman, and on American History Hit My expert guests and I are journeying across the nation and through the

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years to uncover the stories that have made America.

[Dan Snow]

We'll visit the battlefields and debate floors where the nation was formed, meet the

[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

characters who have altered it with their

[Dan Snow]

touch, and count the votes that have changed the direction of our laws and leadership. Find American History Hit Twice a week, every week, wherever you get your podcasts. American History Hit A podcast from History Hit. In times of crisis, the Maya were coming to the caves to, well, ask their gods for help, for salvation. And it's fascinating to know that the archaeology inside Belize's caves does tally with the wider archaeological record that shows that from 750 to 950 or so ad major cities like Tikal and Calakmul were abandoned. Building ceased, royal inscriptions abruptly stopped, and the populations disappeared right across this wide Central American region. This period has traditionally been called the Maya collapse and had long been considered something of a mystery. Why did the Maya, a civilization seemingly at its peak, go into such decline? Well, as you'd expect, experts have spent decades trying to answer that question, and one of them is Dr. Adrian Chase, who has spent his career studying the ancient Maya city of Caracol, deep in the jungles of Belize Adrian, we're just strolling through the jungle, through this site that you have been coming to since you were a babe in arms, literally, and have done so much to help interpret and understand. Take Caracol as an example. But let's talk generally about the Maya world. When is the first sign of trouble? Not just the city, but system wide?

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

Yeah. So one of the interesting things is people really like to talk about the Maya collapse. And often there's a lot of different lenses to look at it. So a really common one is to look at climate collapse. Before that, people have looked at foreign invasions, they'd looked at internal revolution and sort of a Marxist model. You've had people talk about a breakdown in elite power, too much war. So there are many different models. One of the key things is that it's not like a, you know, snap of your finger and it's collapsed. It's a slow process. So some of the first cities that start declining and disappearing happen by 700, and the full collapse doesn't occur until after 900. So you have this 200 year period where you see a cessation of monumental writing, you see an end to monumental construction, like building up Kana at Caracol, and you sometimes see violence at some sites right at the end. So it's likely that it's a mix of factors. For some places, it's environmental. For others, as you lose certain sites on the trade network, it makes trade a lot more difficult. And there seems to be a breakdown between east, west trade and a shift toward coastal trade. At the same time, it's not like everybody stays put. So you actually have people leaving and they're probably migrating north and helping establish the cities that flourish during the Post Classic. So another way to think of this collapse is a transformation of society where people are choosing what they want to keep, what they want to abandon. And one of the things they give up is they give up cities of 100,000 people. They focus on smaller settlements of tens of thousands, and they give up the divine kingship. So you start to see in the post Classic a separation between the high priest and sort of the executive role, the war leader.

[Dan Snow]

So these trade routes break. Another food and other objects flowing across this region starts to break down. That starts to, well, undermine the ability to sustain cities like this.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

So let's go ahead and use Caracol as an example and focus on how this city declines. One of the key things is that there's this long period from 680 to 798 where there's a lot of wealth Sharing. And so you see a strong group of people that are sort of middle status. People have access to jade, they have obsidian, they have, they have marine shell, they have all these things that are being traded in from elsewhere. So they're requiring trade networks to do their daily life.

[Dan Snow]

But there's no name, strong warrior king in charge of things at that point.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

Yeah, there's one or two monuments in the middle, but for the most part it's sort of a cessation of monumental writing. It starts in 680 and then on the other end it's bracketed by the return of Hocawil, who comes in at 798. And he comes in and tries to be this really strong sort of, well, let's just call him a strongman kind of classic period Maya king. And it doesn't work. He tries that for 22 years and then he ends up adapting this larger alliance network. And what you see in this period is you see a breakdown of that strong group of people in the middle. You start to see haves and have nots, some people getting all the long distance trade goods, others are not. And when this happens, you start to see different patterns among the elite. So it almost looks like more wealth sharing in the upper class with less stuff trickling down. And as that happens, you can imagine, you know, what your grandparents were talking about, they were talking about all of this wealth, all these nice things, you can't get them anymore. You've had someone else tell you that there's opportunities out north and so you pack up and leave.

[Dan Snow]

Okay.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

And as enough people pack up and leave, you start having the tax space you need to, to maintain all of the roads, all the plazas. So the system ends up having this huge issue, probably like a lot of modern cities where the population declines and they were planning to grow forever.

[Dan Snow]

So this is not a cinematic depiction of collapse here. This is not a sort of climate change disease in brutal warfare. This feels more like transition, it feels more like adaptation.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

So during most of Caracol's history, it's on the major east west trade routes. And then in this terminal classic, right before 900, it's now at the end of the trade route and you really want to be in the middle where all the goods are moving back and forth.

[Dan Snow]

So suddenly places like Karakol and Tikal are not at the beating heart of this trading network, this globalised world. They're totally on the fringes of it.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

Yeah. So they go from being in the centre of that east west nexus to the end where you have to go all the way upriver to go from the coastal trade. And the coastal trade takes off for the Post Classic when the Spanish are coming across. They document Maya traders in canoes hauling all sorts of goods. And these are canoes with 30 people all helping row or move it around, along with tons of cargo, which could be precious goods, textiles, cacao. I think they even documented some metalworking on one of the canoes.

[Dan Snow]

Oh, wow.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

And at the same time, you do actually see some intense violence on the sites near the end at Caracol, before 900, say 880s, 890s, you see violence on the top of Kana. Kana, the main palace at Caracol. It's the place where the ruler's family lived, and there were people living there even while there were no monuments being erected, which suggests that there's some residual rulership still living up there. But Hocouill is up there, and his descendants or his replacements. The hieroglyphic record actually gets a little funny. They start switching rulers really quickly, which could mean that they're electing rulers, or it could mean that things are really bad and they're having to switch rulers quite quickly. But in this final phase after 880, they end up burning the top of Kana. There's an unburied infant left there. There's a whole bunch of ceramics left on the floors in situ. So people left in a hurry. And when that happens, that's sort of the end of the main government center. And you can imagine the rest of the city doesn't last much longer, because you can't really stay here if you can't get your obsidian to cut things. If you can't get salt coming in from the coast, there's no natural native salt, and you're not getting all of those other goods that your ancestors used to get here. We've just walked up to the back of the temple. The wooden lentil here at Caracol, it probably dates to 41 CE. This structure at the heart of it is the earliest monumental building at Caracol in the downtown. And the first is this long platform that dates to 360 BC. So this is first one of the earliest places that you see people coming together and building a large structure. So initial inhabitants are living here. They get together and start building their community center. They maintain this community center all the way through to the end till 900. And you see caches throughout from different time periods. But some of the final caches happen from around 900 to maybe 950. And you can Think of that as a deconsecration of this sacred space as they're going to move elsewhere. Before you want to leave the space, you want to deconsecrate the sacred nature of the temple so you can then consecrate some other space. You don't want to leave it unfinished. And so there's a final act of ritual. It occurs after probably most of the people have left the site. At that point. What you see today, you may have seen an earlier version of the jungle roaring back. It doesn't take long for vegetation to grow here. And so within eight years, this would already look pretty decrepit. You still see remnants of the plaster. It would have been faded. Colors might be dripping off the side a little bit. Some of the stucco could have fallen apart. But people were coming here. And then after 951,000, people do not come here again for the site until people are coming to investigate hardwoods in the forest to get cedar and mahogany for consumption in the British market after the 1900s.

[Dan Snow]

So we shouldn't think of the Mykleps necessarily as a great big Hollywood cataclysm of pestilence, war and climate breakdown. It could be something that would have felt a little bit more mundane at the time. It's a story of the economics and of the inevitable ebb and flow of human affairs.

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

And I think the key thing is while the city itself, here or in other Maya cities, do collapse in the Classic period, from the perspective of the city, the people themselves persist. And so you see the later generations, they move elsewhere, they take some traditions with them, but when they move, they have choices to make new traditions to change the models of Maya society. And that's part of why the Post Classic looks a bit different.

[Dan Snow]

After the great southern cities declined in the 9th century, power in the Maya world shifted north up to the Yucatan Peninsula. That covers the southern part of modern day Mexico, where Chichen Itza rose as one of the most formidable centers in Mesoamerica. In the aftermath of the so called collapse, Chichen Itza was sustained by fertile land, access to fresh water, and it was well positioned. It was near the coast and on major trade networks which stretched from there across the Gulf and the Caribbean. Chichen Itza was able to support a large population despite the problems faced by the former super cities. As a result, it became the political and commercial powerhouse of the Maya world in what we could call in the west, the medieval period. But as time drew on, by the 16th century, Chichen Itza had also fallen into decline. Its immense structures still dominated the landscape, but it was used more as a site for pilgrimage. That's not to say the Yucatan was emptied of population. Far from it, it was still home to thriving kingdoms of thousands of people. The Maya world was still vibrant, and those kingdoms, though smaller, still vied for supremacy with each other. All that vying for supremacy gave the Spanish an opportunity once they'd arrived. Following that first encounter off the coast of Honduras in 1502 with Christopher Columbus's crew, the next chance meeting between the Maya and the Spanish, well, it was less amicable. In 1511, European survivors of a shipwreck off the coast of Jamaica landed on a Yucatan beach in modern day Mexico in a pitiful state. After drifting for 13 days in an open boat, half the crew had died of thirst and hunger. They just arrived ashore when a group of Maya came across them. Later, Spanish accounts claim that half of the shipwrecked sailors were taken almost immediately as sacrifice victims, perishing on an altar, their chests slit open, their hearts torn out. The other half were imprisoned or enslaved as they waited to be sacrificed at a later date. There is a curious story, though, of two Spanish men who survived. One, Jeronimo de Aguilar, who became the slave of a Maya chief who spared his life. Another, Gonzalo Guerro, who actually became a war leader of a nearby Maya town and married and had children with a Maya woman, completely integrating into the indigenous society. The next Spanish to arrive, however, were less easily subdued. In 1517, more Spanish expeditions appeared on the Yucatan Peninsula. Hernandez de Cordoba arrived on a coastal island in search of slaves and, he hoped, gold. He was amazed to find evidence of civilization on the island. Permanent structures unlike the huts he'd come across in the Caribbean. Cordoba then sailed north to arrive on the Mexican mainland. There, the Spanish were met with fierce resistance by the Maya. In a bloody battle, the Maya used hit and run tactics. They ambushed, they trapped the cavalry in pits. They launched volleys of missiles from forest cover. The Spanish used artillery from their ships to help. But despite European gunpowder, they were no match for the Maya with their spears of hardened obsidian, their bows and arrows and clubs. Cordoba died from 33 wounds sustained in the battle. The Maya had done beaten off the invaders for now. But the Spanish were desperate to find gold and conquer this new world and launched even more, even larger raids. In 1519, Hernan Cortes set sail with 11 ships, 508 men and 16 horses. His army pushed north, away from Maya territory, up towards central Mexico, the land of the Aztec tax. His band would bring this mighty empire to Its knees within a couple of years. Alongside those soldiers and providing justification for much of the the conquest were priests. Just as with the rest of the new World, the Spanish believed that there was a divine mission to convert to Christianity. Missionaries went in search of indigenous towns and cities to find souls to save. And one of the settlements they arrived in was deep in the jungle of Belize in Lamanai, which was still very much inhabited. It was thriving right into the 16th century. The sun is coming up and team and I are on a boat trip down the new lagoon river. Through the sinuous waterways of this remote jungle river. We move through different landscapes on the banks. Sometimes jungle, other times we're going through towns. And each of those towns have got evocative names. Doubloon Bank, Savannah, Bound to Shine, Guinea Grass. And we're just past shipyard, which is a Mennonite settlement. All that harks back to Belize's rich and varied, more recent history. History of European privateers and loggers and Chinese laborers. Enslaved people bought from Africa and the Caribbean who fought for and successfully achieved freedom and lived in these jungles beyond reach of the slavers. I've been told you've got to keep your hands inside the boat here because they're crocodiles. And I've seen enough to believe that that is certainly true. Crocodiles were sacred to the Maya, and indeed they seem to have been sacred to every culture that's lived adjacent to them here. These fish, fearsome creatures, were revered as powerful cosmic beings and were central to their creation myths. I'm on my way to the oldest Maya site in this region. It's called Laminae, which is Maya for submerged crocodile. And this waterway was essential to the identity of that place in more than just name. The fact that it was astride this river is, I'm sure, a reason it survived for so long. Since through the Maya period. Indeed. Actually survived well into the 16th century. After a few twists and turns. I think we're coming up to it now. Yeah, this is definitely it. Here we go. You listen to Dan Snow's history hit the best is yet to come. Stick with us.

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Mom, your finger's blocking the camera or

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[Dan Snow]

So it's great to be to arrive by water, isn't it? Because this was the artery. This is the reason this city's here. And it's wealthy. It's all the passing trade.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes. The river was the major trading route to bring, bring stuff in and to take stuff out. And a lot of stuff was even shared to other cities farther away from here.

[Dan Snow]

This is Reuben Averallo, an expert guide at Laminai. How long have you been guiding here?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

I've been guiding for over 30 years in the country, but mainly Lamanai.

[Dan Snow]

Is this one of your favorite Maya sites?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

It is. Probably because I grew up in here. Okay, this is.

[Dan Snow]

So you're a little bit biased.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

A mixture of Maya and Spanish.

[Dan Snow]

You're a mixture of Maya and Spanish?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes, I'm a mestizo.

[Dan Snow]

Mestizo. And why is this one of the great Maya cities, why it's so important?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Well, Lamana is very important because it was occupied for the longest. We have basically like concrete evidence for about 3,000 years of occupation.

[Dan Snow]

Okay. I suppose many of the Maya sites that we think of, like Caracol, they're right in the jungle. This is actually almost coastal. It's on the water.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Well, they were just looking for specific things that they needed, you know, and finding fertile soil and fresh water was a plus. And that's the reason they put a city in here. We estimate a population of about 40 to 60,000 people just in here. We have concrete evidence from, from 1500 B.C. till when archaeologists came here in 1974. There were still a couple of families on site really. So the Spanish got to see it, the British had to see it as well.

[Dan Snow]

So this survives the so called Maya collapse?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes, major cities were abandoned around 950ad. That's the collapse of the Maya. And that is because of a drought that started on the Central Lowlands and it was affecting everyone. Lamana is suffering. Don't get me wrong, they're suffering, but not as much because they have a big lagoon here. They still had fresh water for them to use as well as for planting and irrigation. You can even put it as Mayas were victims of their own success. This drought happened because of climate change. To where you have big cities, you have to clear the jungle. Once you clear the jungle, you don't get humidity, no rain. Interesting where the drought comes.

[Dan Snow]

So I guess if you're ruling over a city and it stops raining, what are you going to do?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

You're in trouble. Being a ruler here, you were like a God. Now that you know this drought is happening, they were unhappy with royalty. So we are not entirely sure what happened to rulers that were ruling at that point. We know that rulers that were depicted on cellars were defaced and even burnt down by the locals.

[Dan Snow]

So people are blaming the rulers for the lack of.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

The lack of water.

[Dan Snow]

There's no point being the intermediary between the people and the gods if it's not working out.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Exactly.

[Dan Snow]

So when the Spanish arrived in this area in the 16th century, they would have found a thriving, sustainable Maya settlement here. Were they a city?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes, the city was here. Not as how you would find it on its own speak.

[Dan Snow]

Okay, yeah.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Less people. They were still using some of the structures. They were still having ceremonies.

[Dan Snow]

They would actually have seen a Maya city operating. Maya city.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Oh, yes, they did. They recorded this.

[Dan Snow]

Much of this has never been excavated.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

96% is still buried by mother nature.

[Dan Snow]

96% still buried. That's crazy.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yeah. We have exposed, or archaeologists have exposed, nearly 4%. And as you look at the temples, like, you know, some of them, they have only removed the trees and they have done a little bit of work on it, but nothing to show you steps or terraces.

[Dan Snow]

So can you imagine what's beneath our feet now? Exactly.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

More likely Plaza YouTube. There's a massive temple right there.

[Dan Snow]

Big temple there. Look at that.

[Juan Kaal (Maya Youth)]

Yeah.

[Dan Snow]

Totally unexcavated, that temple. Where are we going next, Reuben?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Well, we are heading to Mass Temple. Mass Temple. It's very unique because it started construction around 100 B.C. with its last remodification around 625 A.D. but what's neat about it is that it was still in use because when the Spaniards arrived, you know, that was, you know, active.

[Dan Snow]

We're just walking out now through the trees. One of the many extraordinary things about this site is just the vegetation is so thick on the ground. So as you're walking towards these temples and structures, you just catch glimpses of them through the palm leaves, through the branches, through the vines. And I'm afraid to say it's a cliche, but it feels a little bit like a sort of Indiana Jones Temple. The setting, those two faces, those two masks flank the central staircase. You climb up this pyramidal structure when you're young and you dream about archaeology and exploration, this is what you're thinking about. The setting, the noises of the jungle, and then the spectacular monumental archaeology. When you reach it, it's overwhelmingly beautiful. The low sun is scything through the foliage, which means that different parts the of the temple are etched in gold. Look at these astonishing carvings. We're just coming up to them now.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

The mask depicts a ruler that ruled here around 450 AD.

[Dan Snow]

450. Okay. Is the city at its sort of peak then? Is this a prosperous time?

[Dr. Adrian Chase (Maya Expert)]

Yes, it is.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

But the peak of the Maya throughout the Maya world will be around 6 to 700 AD.

[Dan Snow]

These master extraordinary, aren't they?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes, these are 3m in height.

[Dan Snow]

It's just difficult to imagine what the Spanish would have felt as they arrived here, the challenge it presented to them. You think you're coming to some kind of primitive virgin land and you arrive at this proud, indigenous, sophisticated, defiant culture. This place was a challenge really to everything the Spanish believed and everything the Spanish hoped to achieve in this area. If they wanted to exploit it for money, if they wanted to save souls, prove the primacy of their religion, they needed to. They needed to sort of smash this culture. They needed to eradicate it. So, Reuben, the Spanish respond to this place by just, what, superimposing? They just build churches right on top of this Maya site?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes. The first church was built around 15, 1844. That's when the Spaniards first came in.

[Dan Snow]

So that's pretty soon after they arrive.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes. And what they did, they built a church to try to get the local Maya to practice their religion. As we can say, they succeeded because some families actually joined. But at the same time, the Spaniards wanted to move from here because all they wanted was gold and there was no gold in here. So they asked one of the local families to be in charge of church while they move out and hands were raised and a family got voted or, you know, in charge of church. And that family Caldemia, after the Spaniards left to come to church, and that was to destroy the church. That's why right now you only see the foundation of the church. A hundred years after, they sent missioners to scout the areas to see how the churches were doing. When they came here, they were not happy because the church was destroyed. So they told Nehemiah, well, you have destroyed our church. You build us another church. And these are the stones that you're going to be using. So they went and removed stones from post classic buildings, you know, and said, hey, use the stones, build as a church. And the Maya were building the church with those stones. But as they were building where the altar section would have been, they were putting figurines that depicted their own gods in the wall. So that with the mentality, you know, that if they came to church, they would worship multiple gods, not just one, the way Christianity was going. So they put all these gods in the walls, they finished the, the altar section, put a huge roof, thatched roof, you know, and they were like, wait a minute, why are we doing this? And that's the time they rebelled and they kicked the Spaniards out. Once they kicked the Spaniards out, they came and ripped the walls again to get their figurines back and then they put fire on the roof. So they burned down the second church.

[Dan Snow]

So this is an interesting example of successful resistance to, to that Spanish invasion, that Spanish conquest of this region.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Yes. I mean, put it to you this way. The Mayan didn't really want the Spaniards and their religion here. And also the Spaniards didn't find it appropriate for them to be here. Not because of, you know, the way the Maya treat them or anything, but because what was their interest? They were here for gold. They're not going to find that here.

[Dan Snow]

It's a bit of a swampy, mosquito ridden.

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Well, that's what they claim. You know, the Spanish claim that this area was too swampy and it had too many mosquitoes and they couldn't be here. Plus the commanders in those days had a law, if you want to move back to Spain, you need to have this amount of gold for the king. So you were like kind of forced to find that gold, you know, so that you can take it to the king.

[Dan Snow]

So in the 1500s, 600s, there's still a Maya community operating here. What about other famous Maya sites in

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

our close regions like Mexico, Guatemala? Major cities were abandoned and people just disintegrated away from the city, leaving to about 10% of the population in this country as pure Maya is because first of all, you get the drought that wiped a lot of people. I mean, you get a lot of wars between different communities trying to come in here because of what Lamani has, and then because of diseases that were brought in also by the Europeans.

[Dan Snow]

What happens this site after the Spanish fully do conquer the area?

[Reuben Averallo (Lamanai Guide)]

Well, the Maya continued their occupation in here. They kept on doing their own business, planting, fishing, hunting. I mean, they didn't build no construction, but they had A place to live and where to feed from. When David Pendergast came here in 1974, there were still two families on site.

[Dan Snow]

But of course, it was a far cry from the great city it once was. Lamani's great temples slowly disappearing under the vegetation. Which wasn't just the result of Spanish steel. Epidemics of European diseases, smallpox, measles, influenza swept through communities. From the 1500s onwards, those diseases were unknown in the Mesoamerican world. They traveled faster than horses, and great swathes of indigenous people were killed. Leadership structures were shattered. Societies weakened. That all made it much easier for the Spanish when they did show up, to conquer these reduced Maya kingdoms. Or they could exploit rivalries between these now desperate city states. And alongside that conquest came cultural destruction. Temples dismantled, Christianity imposed. Populations reorganized into colonial towns. Maya books and sacred objects destroyed. The final military Defeat came in 1697, when Spanish forces captured the island capital of the Itza Maya. In modern day Guatemala, the last independent Maya kingdom fell. But as Lamanai shows us, Maya civilization may have ended in the 17th century, but the Maya people remained. Although their ancient cities disappeared under vegetation, their way of life endured through the families that did survive. So this is the sound of the Maya today, a very vibrant culture. I'm at a special event now. It's Maya Day in southern Belize, where this is actually where the majority of Belize's Maya people live. I'm very near the borders with Honduras and Guatemala. There are three identified indigenous groups. The Yucatec Maya, the Mopan Maya and the Kekshi Maya. They account for around 10% of Belize's population among the many other ethnic groups that make up the rich tapestry of Belize life. I'm in a big open space. There are stalls all around the edge, roofed with palm fronds, and there's people cooking traditional food. There are people teaching traditional Maya crafts. And in the center of it all now we are watching an elaborate dance. We've got 20 people dressed magnificently. The range of magnificent headgear masks, beautiful colors. There's great vibe here. Lots of families, lots of what everyone keeps referring to as elders, which they look about my age, to be honest. But then, of course, then actually lots of young people. In fact, these guys here have got very cool T shirts on. To be Maya is to be. Well, guys, guys, what's this mean? Tell me. Excuse me. What's. What's your T shirt mean? Tell me about it.

[Juan Kaal (Maya Youth)]

My name is Juan Kaal. I am a Maya Erchi young person. I come from the village of San Martin Marcos. One of the Maya EC communities in southern Belize. And that to be Maya means is to be. Well, to be Maya means is that we have our lands, we have resources, we have beautiful landscapes, and that where we come from is rich beyond the wealth. That is that a society interprets. A lot of times society interpret wealth as in cash. We interpret wealth as in having resources, having life in abundance. And in our language, we are still happy. We are together. We are collectively here to celebrate each other being Maya in the 21st century. I am proud to say I can still speak my language. I am able to understand, understand that before me, my ancestors were people who had an ingenuity that science and archaeologists are still unearthing and are still trying to decipher. So we are here to celebrate that, that our ancestors were once in their grandeur and that as we continue to be Maya in the 21st century, that nothing should ever stop us. And for us, long as we can remember that we will prevail. We will be Maya. We will continue to be Maya in the next decade. And that is the message today. Silence all and bantias. Thank you.

[Dan Snow]

Well, what a place to end it. Folks. I'm about to go and hit this Maya food tent pretty hard. So I'm just going to say at this point, thank you for listening. It has been an incredible adventure to be in Belize and if you want to do this, you can. If you want to explore my history or any other aspects of Belize, wildlife, cuisine, wild coastline that is actually one of the best in the world that I didn't really properly see on this trip, you can find out more information at www.travelbalize.org. we're going to put that link in the show notes and you should also check out the documentary we've been making for our TV channel for our subscription video on Demand channel History hit. If you've enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving us a review. Wherever you get your podcasts, it is time for me to say goodbye. I have a date with a delicious barbecue chicken. See you next time folks.

[Juan Kaal (Maya Youth)]

Bye bye.

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[Dan Snow]

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[Raphael (Archaeologist)]

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[Dan Snow]

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