In certain aspects I think it makes more sense to compare the Maya not with Rome, but with the Celts: there was never a single “Celtland”, they spoke multiple albeit related languages, and their achievements are often underrated. (Remember Noric steel?)

What you see nowadays of the Celts is nothing but a small fragment of the past. And yet there was no such thing as a “Celtic collapse”; it’s just that the Borg to the south were a centralised force triggering war everywhere and exploiting size difference to assimilate even more.

Perhaps it’s the same deal with the Maya?

It’s also possible we interpreted the Mayan prophecies wrong and the end is still coming and WE are the ones that don’t know when it will be.

Spoiler: it’s because archaeology and anthropology were white supremacist movements.