The Pre-Columbian Maya of southern Mexico and Central America had one of the most developed architectural traditions among indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Maya building tradition originated in the Preclassic period (2000 B.C.–A.D. 100) and reached an apogee of development in the Classic period (A.D. 200–A.D. 850). The Classic Maya Collapse (A.D. 800–1000), Spanish Conquest (A.D. 1521–A.D. 1697), and subsequent Colonial period (until A.D. 1821) affected Maya civilization in various ways, and this included their architecture. The Maya abandoned many of their urban civic-ceremonial centers in certain regions. Buildings crumbled and were covered by forests. The construction of large temples and carved stone stelae decreased and then ceased. Some Maya remained and built smaller-scale civic-ceremonial centers, however. Architectural traditions continued in the Postclassic period (A.D. 1000–A.D. 1525) although the Maya transformed certain aspects of their architecture (Schwarz, 2013)...
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Schwarz, K. (2014). Architecture of the Maya. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_9822-1
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