Question:
Which factor has not been cited as one of the factors causing the collapse of Maya society?
Which factor has not been cited as one of the factors causing the collapse of Maya society?
Show Hint
This is a “not cited” question. Check each option against the five strands in the passage and notice who exactly is said to have been focused on short-term concerns.
Updated On: Nov 4, 2026
- Environmental degradation due to excess population
- Obsession of Maya population with their own short-term concerns
- Increased warfare among Maya people
- Climate change
- Social collapse due to excess population
Show Solution
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The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: List the five strands the passage gives as causes of the collapse.
1) Population growth that outstripped the available resources. 2) Deforestation and hillside erosion (environmental degradation), which reduced the usable farmland. 3) Increased fighting over fewer resources. 4) Climate change (the most severe drought). 5) The Maya kings and nobles, whose attention was “focused on their short-term concerns of enriching themselves, waging wars, erecting monuments” instead of on the long-term problems.
Step 2: Check each option.
(1) Environmental degradation due to excess population: cited in strands 1 and 2.
(5) Social collapse due to excess population: the passage says peak population was followed by political and social collapse, so the excess population is linked to the collapse that followed.
(3) Increased warfare among the Maya: cited in strand 3.
(4) Climate change: cited in strand 4.
(2) Obsession of the Maya population with their own short-term concerns: the passage says this only of the kings and leaders. It never says that the Maya population as a whole was obsessed with short-term concerns, so this is not cited as a cause.
Final Answer:
The correct option is (2): Obsession of Maya population with their own short-term concerns.
1) Population growth that outstripped the available resources. 2) Deforestation and hillside erosion (environmental degradation), which reduced the usable farmland. 3) Increased fighting over fewer resources. 4) Climate change (the most severe drought). 5) The Maya kings and nobles, whose attention was “focused on their short-term concerns of enriching themselves, waging wars, erecting monuments” instead of on the long-term problems.
Step 2: Check each option.
(1) Environmental degradation due to excess population: cited in strands 1 and 2.
(5) Social collapse due to excess population: the passage says peak population was followed by political and social collapse, so the excess population is linked to the collapse that followed.
(3) Increased warfare among the Maya: cited in strand 3.
(4) Climate change: cited in strand 4.
(2) Obsession of the Maya population with their own short-term concerns: the passage says this only of the kings and leaders. It never says that the Maya population as a whole was obsessed with short-term concerns, so this is not cited as a cause.
Final Answer:
The correct option is (2): Obsession of Maya population with their own short-term concerns.
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