The great maya droughts pdf

New and senior scholars of archaeology and environmental science explore the timing and intensity of droughts and provide a nuanced understanding of socio-ecological dynamics, with specific reference to what makes communities resilient or vulnerable when faced with environmental change. Contributors recognize the existence of four droughts that correlate with periods of demographic and political decline and identify a variety of concurrent political and social issues.

They argue that these primary underlying factors were exacerbated by drought conditions and ultimately led to societal transitions that were by no means uniform across various sites and subregions. Table of Contents. Cover Download Save contents. Title Page, Copyright Page pp. Contents pp. Figures pp. Tables pp. Contributors pp. Dahlin and Arlen F. Chase pp. Demarest pp. Scherer and Charles Golden pp. Schwarcz, Kitty F.

Emery, and Erin Kennedy Thornton pp. In the Mopan e-mail: aimers geneseo. Archaeological evidence from drought occurred between ad and , whereas evidence from Barranca de sites marked in blue suggests that the collapse of Maya civilization occurred Amealco dates drought more precisely from ad to Other data suggest at different rates at different places.

The disparity between the and at sites at the Mopan Valley possibly as late as the thirteenth century. Palaeoclimate data must also be considered into the historic period. Palaeoclimate evidence from sites marked in red tells in context — changes in rainfall around the Cariaco Basin do not necessarily the history of drought in Mesoamerica. Data from Lake Chichancanab show that explain what happened 2, kilometres away at the Maya site of Tikal. Maya Venezuela, indicate that multi-year droughts climate and archaeological records, because occurred at about ad , , and the data sets inadequately resolve spatial and megadrought?

Sharpening the evidence will require new high-resolution, accurately dated records, preferably on a local scale, from both forward. Instrumental meteorological data ad and , with shorter events centred archaeologists and palaeoclimatologists, for Mesoamerica are available for only about at ad and Documenting past droughts But palaeoclimate records must be evaluated the results.

So, does the e-mail: dah73 cam. Wilk, R. For example, palaeoclimate inform us about past precipitation at the Maya 2. Gill, R. New Mexico Press, Hunt, B. Change 69, — ple , temporal resolution the finest interval Another issue is the accuracy of dating Cecil, J. The Fall of the Mayan Civilisation www. Aimers, J. Inomata, T. The first physical evidence7 tree-ring chronologies provide both high Abandonment in Middle America eds Inomata, T. Furthermore, the Webb, R. Utah Press, Hodell, D. Peninsula, Mexico Fig.

Haug, G. Science , —