Human Influence Versus Natural Climate Variability

Torrescano-Valle, Nuria; Ramírez-Barajas, Pablo J.; Islebe, Gerald A.; Vela-Pelaez, A.A.; Folan, William J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-31719-5_9

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 75 publications

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“…This supports the idea that these two regions have more hydric resources than the MA which make them more resilient. It has to be highlight that some signals of drought are also associated to human agency such as the vegetation change in the pollen of Chumpich (Islebe et al, 2022;Torrescano-Valle et al, 2019).…”

Section: Presence Of Droughts In the Time Of The Maya Hiatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal distribution of palaeoclimatic records in the Maya Area

Martinez-Dyrzo

2024

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Palaeoclimatic research has been performed in the Maya Area (MA), using mainly lake sediment cores and speleothems. Most of the studies have been performed in the lowlands, leaving the highlands unexplored. Lake sediments records contain a diversity of proxies (e.g. Mineralogy, isotopes, pollen, charcoal, diatoms, chemicals, magnetic susceptibility, among others) and temporal resolution, making them frequently not easy to compare and leaving numerous gaps of information. Practically all stalagmites are focused on using δ18O as a proxy of effective rainfall during the Maya periods, having only some explored the role of palaeostorms and hurricanes as well as the paleoclimatology of the pre-Maya and modern periods. In this review paper, the location and temporal frame of palaeoenvironmental records of the MA and their proxies are presented, showing the zones and periods that possess environmental information and assessing their resolution. The comparison shows that more high-resolution records with a multi-proxy approach covering most of the Holocene are needed to understand the climate change in different zones of the MA. Finally, the geographic distribution of the diverse recorded hydroclimate responses based on the records is presented for three critical moments in the Maya History that have been associated with dry periods in the Great Maya Droughts hypothesis. This geographic perspective shows that dry events were not presented in all the MA during these moments although they were vastly recorded in both high- and lowlands. The geographic perspective also shows a negligible drought effect in the central lowlands for the Maya Hiatus period, where this cultural phenomenon was identified first. But signals of droughts are presented in other zones of the MA for this period. The distribution of the drought signal also shows that sites that thrived during the Maya Collapse period were in the regions that suffered the strongest droughts, whilst many sites that were abandoned were in regions rich in hydric resources. Explanations are reviewed for these contradictions. Finally, the works towards the development of mathematical models of the environmental variables are briefly reviewed, pointing out the lack of a proper computational model that has been fed by the palaeoclimatic data developed by the records in the MA.

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Section: Presence Of Droughts In the Time Of The Maya Hiatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal distribution of palaeoclimatic records in the Maya Area

Martinez-Dyrzo

2024

revmexcg

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Climate and agricultural history from the Petén Campechano in the Late Holocene Maya lowlands of southern Mexico

Torrescano-Valle¹,

Folan

Yanez-Montalvo³

et al. 2023

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Maize and ancient Maya droughts

Islebe

Torrescano-Valle

Valdez-Hernández

et al. 2022

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The ancient Maya culture of Mesoamerica shaped landscapes for centuries, in an area where maize (Zeamays) cultivation is considered a fundamental crop in the diet of present and ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Pollen records from sites with different environmental and climatic conditions of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico) and Peten (Guatemala) evidence a clear relationship between increased maize pollen and periods of reduced precipitation caused by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) while moist periods are characterized by low maize pollen presence. ENSO conditions were not evenly distributed across the Yucatán Peninsula, and regional droughts vary according to regional climate and geographical conditions. Our results indicate a strong relationship of increased maize and tropical forest decrease with dry periods, while the Late Preclassic Humid Period (ca. 500–200 BCE) is characterized by the absence of maize pollen. The dry Late Preclassic (300 BCE-250 CE) was a key period for increased maize production, suggesting a new conceptualization of maize. Maize changed from a basic diet crop to a pragmatic product to face adverse environmental conditions.

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Human Influence Versus Natural Climate Variability

Cited by 3 publications

References 75 publications

Spatial and temporal distribution of palaeoclimatic records in the Maya Area

Spatial and temporal distribution of palaeoclimatic records in the Maya Area

Climate and agricultural history from the Petén Campechano in the Late Holocene Maya lowlands of southern Mexico

Maize and ancient Maya droughts

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