An 8700 year paleoclimate reconstruction from the southern Maya lowlands

Holocene vegetation change in the northern Peten and its implications for Maya Prehistory

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>An ∼8400 cal yr record of vegetation change from the northern Peten, Guatemala, provides new insights into the environmental history of the archaeological area known as the Mirador Basin. Pollen, loss on ignition, and magnetic susceptibility analyses indicate warm and humid conditions in the early to mid-Holocene. Evidence for a decrease in forest cover around 4600 cal yr B.P. coincides with the first appearance of <jats:italic>Zea mays</jats:italic> pollen, suggesting that human activity was responsible. The period between 3450 cal yr B.P. and 1000 cal yr B.P. is characterized by a further decline in forest pollen types, includes an abrupt increase in weedy taxa, and exhibits the highest magnetic susceptibility values since the early Holocene, all of which suggest further agricultural disturbance in the watershed. A brief drop in disturbance indicators around 1800 cal yr B.P. may represent the Preclassic abandonment of the area. Changing pollen frequencies around 1000 cal yr B.P. indicate a cessation of human disturbance, which represents the Late Classic collapse of the southern Maya lowlands.</jats:p>

d13C (LPDaac60f8e): interpretation1_scope: '' has been replaced by 'climate'

pub1_author: 'list(list(name = "Bhattacharya, Tripti"), list(name = "Byrne, Roger"), list(name = "Böhnel, Harald"), list(name = "Wogau, Kurt"), list(name = "Kienel, Ulrike"), list(name = "Ingram, B. Lynn"), list(name = "Zimmerman, Susan"))' has been replaced by 'Bhattacharya, Tripti'

Cultural implications of late Holocene climate change in the Cuenca Oriental, Mexico

<jats:p>There is currently no consensus on the importance of climate change in Mesoamerican prehistory. Some invoke drought as a causal factor in major cultural transitions, including the abandonment of many sites at 900 CE, while others conclude that cultural factors were more important. This lack of agreement reflects the fact that the history of climate change in many regions of Mesoamerica is poorly understood. We present paleolimnological evidence suggesting that climate change was important in the abandonment of Cantona between 900 CE and 1050 CE. At its peak, Cantona was one of the largest cities in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, with a population of 90,000 inhabitants. The site is located in the Cuenca Oriental, a semiarid basin east of Mexico City. We developed a subcentennial reconstruction of regional climate from a nearby maar lake, Aljojuca. The modern climatology of the region suggests that sediments record changes in summer monsoonal precipitation. Elemental geochemistry (X-ray fluorescence) and δ<jats:sup>18</jats:sup>O from authigenic calcite indicate a centennial-scale arid interval between 500 CE and 1150 CE, overlaid on a long-term drying trend. Comparison of this record to Cantona’s chronology suggests that both the city’s peak population and its abandonment occurred during this arid period. The human response to climate change most likely resulted from the interplay of environmental and political factors. During earlier periods of Cantona’s history, increasing aridity and political unrest may have actually increased the city’s importance. However, by 1050 CE, this extended arid period, possibly combined with regional political change, contributed to the city’s abandonment.</jats:p>