The Rise and Fall of Ancient Civilizations
Essay Assignment #4
Pick either the Aztec Empire or the Inca Empire and compare its fall to the Classic Maya collapse. Answer the following two questions:I. Do you think the process of collapse was fundamentally the same in both cases, or do you think it was different? What are the major points of similarity or difference? [1 to 2 pages]
II. Present a hypothesis to explain the similarities or differences in the processes of collapse in the two cases. Insofar as you can, test the most important points of your hypothesis. If there are critical points that cannot be tested because of a lack of data, say what information you would need in order to test those points. [2 to 3 pages]
Requirements:
Advice:
- 4 to 5 pages of text; same format as before. Again, the suggested lengths are simply general guidelines indicating that you should devote more space to Part II than Part I.
- Print out a copy of the grading sheet and attach it as a separate page at the end of your paper.
- Due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, April 17. Late papers will be penalized in the same manner as before (one-third of a letter grade per 24 hours). Counts for 20% of course grade.
- Use the same format for citations as before. The same warnings about plagiarism and academic dishonesty apply.
- This assignment calls for a comparative analysis of two cases. The emphasis is on processes--cause-and-effect relationships--not specific historical details (which we would expect to differ from case to case). Part I asks whether or not the processes were fundamentally similar, but not whether they were identical. The issue is the similarity or difference of the most important points, but not of every detail.
- If you’ve changed your mind about the collapse of Maya civilization since you wrote Essay #3 and want to offer a different analysis here, that’s all right. Your arguments in Essay #4 need to be internally consistent, but they don’t have to be consistent with what you wrote in Essay #3.
- If your hypothesis is untestable on one or two major points but testable on others, that’s fine. (If you were a professional archaeologist, those currently untestable points would probably lead you to your next research project.) However, if you find that your hypothesis is untestable on every major point, you should reconsider it. A hypothesis that can't account for any of the important data available to you is of dubious value.