For as great a society and as much as the Mayans contributed to humans ability to overcome adversity brought on my nature they were never able conquer the power of Earth.
The Mayans had different gods. Fierce gods. Jaguars and the like. Blood ceremonies and sacrifices. They were not passive people, they believed in ritual and power.
When the Mayan civilization feel is was due to over population.
The Mayans were valley dwellers. They had very sophisticated irrigation systems on a 'karst' topography. They did well with more than ample enough annual rainfall to supply enough water to defeat any salt accumulation due to their irrigation and their population grew.
As the valley became too small for all the people they moved into the hillsides and began to till the hills and mountains.
Being valley dwellers, they knew nothing of 'terraced farming.' The massive amounts of rain that came washed the tilled soil into the valley, swallowing up homes in landslides that would bury entire homes and villages. Those left on the mountain that may have survived no longer had fertile land to till.
When those in the valley died and the land once again settled, the survivors of the day resettled there, but, in such small and scattered numbers their civilization disappeared.
It took quite some time to realize the actual truth of the Mayans. Their cities were thought to be overrun by jumgle. But, that wasn't what happened that caused their demise as a civilization. Some people of Mayan lineage still live today.
The jungle grew over the Mayan cities because they were already covered in productive soil that once belonged to the hills and mountains. The jungle was never so powerful it could destroy the Mayans, they did that by themselves.
