Many scholars believe that one of the more persuasive arguments for explaining the disappearance of Mayan civilization is that under pressure from a huge population, cleared fields had no chance to lie fallow, eventually leading to famine which caused the population to depart the area.
許多學者認為馬雅文明的消失，較具說服力的原因可能就是，在龐大的人口壓力之下，使得燒墾的土地沒有休耕喘息的機會，導致饑荒而舉族他遷。