COLLAPSE

Dating of that abandonment to around 10.0.0.0.0-10.1.0.0.0 (when Caracol, Ucanal, Nakum, and Xunantunich in the region to the south all dedicated their last monuments) does nothing to provide an explanation; the Tikal-Calakmul conflict was long over, its resolution having preceded La Milpa’s Late Classic renaissance (Martin and Grube 1995). Tikal itself was still functioning, although La Milpa’s late ceramics do not suggest close ties. The decay of Tikal’s regional power may have had repercussions, although the lack of defenses and of evidence for conflict at La Milpa suggest that they were not military ones. The strong northern impact seen in the Tecep-phase architecture and ceramics of Nohmul, downstream on the Rio Hondo (Hammond et al. 1988), and at Rio Azul (Adams 1999) is absent and likely to have come when La Milpa was already in desuetude. La Milpa lacked positive attractions, such as good chert supplies, a nearby river for water and transportation, or abundant and well-watered good agricultural land.

Its spectacular Late/Terminal Classic development, overall high population size (estimated at 46,000 within a five-kilometer radius), and density show that in

The short term, at least, the land around La Milpa could support a substantial community (as it did throughout the surrounding upland region). An episode of Late Classic soil erosion was noted in local bajo cores (N. Dunning, personal communication, 2000) but was far less intense than a Late Preclassic episode engendered by apparently much smaller and more scattered communities. Terracing and berms suggest attempts to maximize production and minimize soil loss (though probably less desperately than we have surmised in previous papers), and the onset of drought, or a disjunction between rainfall and the growing season, would have had serious long-term consequences in an area dependent on rainfall agriculture. The evidence from La Milpa where it exists is, however, of response to a short-term, perhaps very short-term, problem.

We are left with a conundrum; occupation at La Milpa ceased unexpectedly, in the middle of a burst of centrally directed public works aggrandizing the already impressive ceremonial precinct. Elite residences, religious structures, and administrative infrastructure were all undergoing expansion and refurbishment when the end came. Whether events such as the deliberate demolition and careful infilling of Structures 65 and 69 presaged this, or form part of an earlier, unrelated, and incomplete cycle of redevelopment, we do not know. The large number of buildings that may have been simultaneously under construction at the time of abandonment (including major structures in both portions of the ceremonial precinct, the sacbe linking them, and construction outside the center such as the La Milpa West minor center 3.5 kilometers away), their wide distribution, and the large quantities of material, transport, and labor thus implied, might plausibly have strained the local labor supply. This in turn could have put agricultural productivity under stress, and even resulted in the sort of disquiet that leads to revolt or emigration.

Abrams (1994: 106), however, has emphasized that labor requirements for Maya structures were often low, and La Milpa would seem to have had some 20,000 able adults at its rulers’ disposal. We could be seeing the incomplete state of construction at the end of one in an intended succession of building campaigns at a more modest and sustainable rate, a plan interrupted before work could be resumed. One problem is that we have little idea of the “normal” pace of such efforts, and whether multiple projects involving different kinds of buildings would have been simultaneously pursued, as they seem on the evidence to have been at La Milpa.

Epigonal occupation of the “squatter” type is striking by its absence. The construction of Str. 86 in the Great Plaza and the possible associated rubble “altar” inside Structure 5, just over 100 meters to the northeast, are the only evidence so far of people staying around La Milpa; the substantial, dense population documented throughout the settlement area seems to have melted away. Yet there is absolutely no sign of violence or wanton destruction, such as marked the collapse of some of the Petexbatun sites. In some ways it is tempting to say that La

Milpa went out with a bang, on a cultural high in the midst of its prosperity, but that would perhaps create the wrong impression. La Milpa went out with a whimper—not a long, drawn-out howl of slow decline but a short, almost silent sigh, leaving unanswerable, perhaps unaskable, questions hanging in the air.