# The Origins & Collapse of the Preclassic Maya in the Mirador Basin, Guatemala: Cultural & Natural Dynamics in the Cradle of the Maya Civilization

According to Richard Hansen, the concentration of large cities in the Mirador Basin in the Middle and Late Preclassic periods (circa 1000 B.C. to A.D. 150) led to the construction of the largest pyramids on the planet, the largest ancient Maya cities, the first "freeway" system in the world and the first true state-level society in the Western Hemisphere.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2014
- By: Library Of Congress. Geography And Map Division
- Genres: Education, History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689365/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021689365?play=1)