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CLIMATIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY IN THE RISE OF MAYA CIVILIZATION: A preliminary perspective from northern Peten

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2003

Richard D. Hansen ,
Steven Bozarth ,
John Jacob ,
David Wahl  and
Thomas Schreiner
Richard D. Hansen
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, 3845 Slichter Hall, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567; Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES), Route 3, Rupert, ID 83350, USA
Steven Bozarth
Affiliation:
Palynology Laboratory, Department of Geography, 213 Lindley Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
John Jacob
Affiliation:
Texas Sea Grant and Texas Cooperative Extension, 1322 Space Park, A-256, Houston, TX 77058, USA
David Wahl
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, 507 McCone Hall, 4740, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-4740, USA
Thomas Schreiner
Affiliation:
Department of Architecture, 232 Wurster Hall, 1800, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1800, USA
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Abstract

Archaeological and ecological investigations in the Mirador Basin of northern Guatemala have recovered archaeological, phytolith, palynological, and pedological data relevant to the early occupation and development of Maya civilization in a specific environmental matrix. Fluctuation in vegetation types as evident in cores and archaeological profiles suggest that the seasonally wet, forested bajo environment currently found in the northern Peten was anciently more of a perennially wet marsh system that may have been heavily used and influenced by large Preclassic occupations. Data suggest that climatic and environmental factors correspond with the cultural process in the Mirador Basin, and research in progress is oriented to further elucidating these issues.

Type
SPECIAL SECTION: HISTORICAL CLIMATOLOGY IN THE MAYA AREA, PART 2
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , July 2002 , pp. 273 - 295
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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