of this each full day name could only repeat every 18,980 days or once every 52 years. The Maya didn’t discover metallurgy until late in the Classic period and used it only to produce jewelry and decorations for the elite. Artists and their numerous assistants cut and filled the stones used for palaces, pyramids, and housing, aided only by levers and stone tools. Each wave of construction represented the mobilization of thousands of laborers. The urban building boom of the Classic period reflected the ability of rulers to appropriate the labor of their subjects.The abandonment or destruction of the major urban cities between 800 and 900 A.D. brought the Classic period to a close. There were probably many causes for this, but no scholarly consensus exists. The destruction of Teotihuacan, in about 750 A.D. disrupted long-distance trade and thus might have undermined the legitimacy of the Maya rulers. Growing population, especially among the elite, led to environmental degradation and falling agricultural productivity. Some scholars have suggested that climatic change contributed to the collapse, but evidence is slight. Regardless of the disputed reasons, there is an agreement that by 900 A.D. the Maya had entered a new era, the Post Classic.Evidence suggests that during the Post Classic central Mexican cultural influence increased among the Maya of Yucatan. Legend has it that the Toltecs of central Mexico, led by Quetzalcoatl, conquered the Maya of Yucatan. According to this legend, a group associated with the god Tezcatlipoca had forced Quetzalcoatl into exile. Quetzalcoatl and his followers moved east, defeating the Maya of Yucatan and establishing a new capital, Chichen Itza. By the end of the 13th century, the Itza were the authority across much of Yucatan. The origins of these people are unclear, but they claimed to be the people of Chichen Itza. The Itza eventually established authority over most of the Yucatan...
