Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization

Hodell, David A; Curtis, Jason H.; Brenner, Mark

doi:10.1038/375391a0

Cited by 845 publications

(588 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…As discussed by Sicre et al (2008a), the Thompson et al (1995), Yang et al (2009); see also Wang et al (2007), data shown in 30. Yucatan May-October precipitationevaporation Lake core, various indices Hoddell et al (1995) MCA warming on the North Iceland Shelf appears to have resulted from enhanced poleward transport of the warmer waters from the North Atlantic Drift in the North Iceland Irminger Current, possibly due to increased southwesterly winds or to changes in transport associated with the AMOC. Following the termination of the MCA warming episode seen in the North Iceland SST records, indications of in situ (presumably winter) sea ice appear at the site, becoming more prevalent through the LIA (Massé et al 2008; Fig.…”

Section: Proxy Recordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Meso-America, archeological evidence and proxy records from Yucatan indicate increasing aridity through much of the first millennium AD culminating with a series of droughts between 700 and 950 AD that apparently contributed to the collapse of Classic Mayan culture (Hoddell et al 1995;Gill 2000;Fig. 5J).…”

Section: Proxy Recordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I Ghana lake silicate concentration index (green with circles; Shanahan et al 2009). J Yucatan lake precipitation-evaporation (CaC; Hoddell et al 1995). All records are Z-scores with offset for display, ordinate grid lines are separated by 3r.…”

Section: Proxy Recordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

et al. 2010

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Widely distributed proxy records indicate that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; *900-1350 AD) was characterized by coherent shifts in large-scale Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation patterns. Although cooler sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific can explain some aspects of medieval circulation changes, they are not sufficient to account for other notable features, including widespread aridity through the Eurasian sub-tropics, stronger winter westerlies across the North Atlantic and Western Europe, and shifts in monsoon rainfall patterns across Africa and South Asia. We present results from a full-physics coupled climate model showing that a slight warming of the tropical Indian and western Pacific Oceans relative to the other tropical ocean basins can induce a broad range of the medieval circulation and climate changes indicated by proxy data, including many of those not explained by a cooler tropical Pacific alone. Important aspects of the results resemble those from previous simulations examining the climatic response to the rapid Indian Ocean warming during the late twentieth century, and to results from climate warming simulations-especially in indicating an expansion of the Northern Hemisphere Hadley circulation. Notably, the pattern of tropical Indo-Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) change responsible for producing the proxy-model similarity in our results agrees well with MCA-LIA SST differences obtained in a recent proxy-based climate field reconstruction. Though much remains unclear, our results indicate that the MCA was characterized by an enhanced zonal Indo-Pacific SST gradient with resulting changes in Northern Hemisphere tropical and extra-tropical circulation patterns and hydroclimate regimes, linkages that may explain the coherent regional climate shifts indicated by proxy records from across the planet. The findings provide new perspectives on the nature and possible causes of the MCA-a remarkable, yet incompletely understood episode of Late Holocene climatic change.

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Section: Proxy Recordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Proxy Recordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

et al. 2010

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“…A typical example is the Classic Maya collapse. Persistent drought has been highlighted as the main reason for the abrupt collapse of Maya society (Hodell et al, 1995;deMenocal, 2001;Weiss and Bradley, 2001). However, some critics note that Maya civilization did not collapse as quickly as supposed by some of these studies and the process of multisite and regional abandonment in the Terminal Classic played out over at least 125 yr (Turner, 2010;Dunning et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macro-Economic Cycles Related to Climate change in Dynastic China

et al. 2015

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Investigations of the relationships between climate and human history often place more emphasis on the science of climate change than on understanding human socio-economic processes, and therefore suffer from superficial results and an unbalanced perspective. This is partly due to the lack of high-resolution data concerning long-term socio-economic processes. Here, we base our study of climate and society on a series of 2130-yr-long economic proxy data from China with decadal resolution. The economy was associated significantly with temperature and precipitation at the two predominant bands of 100 and 320 yr. The phase transition of economic states was influenced positively by long-term temperature change combined with triggering effects of short-term changes in precipitation. However, climatic impact on economy should not be recognized as simple causality but some driving-response relation coupled with meditation by human agency at multiple scales. A model of 'adaptive cycles' implies, in relative to the developing phases, climate-economy relationship during the declining phases was more easily moderated by slower processes like rigidity and faster processes like unrest. From a more-macro perspective, climatic driving for the macro-economic cycles was moderated by larger and slower processes like social memory, spatial shifting of key economic areas, and social-technical advance.

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“…For the past 60 years, the societal-environmental relationship particular to the Southern Maya Lowlands has been debated (Coe and Flannery 1964;Flannery 1982;Harrison and Turner 1978;Netting 1977;Sanders 1977;Turner and Sanders 1992;Wauchope 1956;Willey 1956;Willey et al 1965), with one specific topic focusing on the emergence and dynamics of urbanization and its collapse in the ninth century (Arnauld and Michelet 2004;Drennan 1988;Dunning et al 2002;Hodell et al 1995;Johnston and Breckenridge 1999;Leyden et al 1996;Rice 1993;Whitmore and Turner 2001). The archaeological, geomorphological, and botanical studies of pre-Columbian Maya agriculture focus upon techniques, forms, and structures of landscaping, spatial patterns of land use, and ecological impact delineating models of agricultural intensification and diversification (Fedick 1996a;Gómez Pompa et al 2003;Johnston 2003;Killion 1992;Liendo Stuardo 2002;Ross 2011;Turner 1983).…”

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confidence: 99%

Agrarian Features, Farmsteads, and Homesteads in the Río Bec Nuclear Zone, Mexico

Lemonnier

Vannière

2013

Ancient Mesoam

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With its overall settlement pattern more dispersed than those of other contemporary Maya sites, and many associated land use features still preserved, the spatial layout of the Río Bec nuclear zone (159 ha) leads us to give priority to the hypothesis of a production economy based on infield agriculture. Through a multidisciplinary and multiscalar research strategy, including several geoarchaeological methods developed on three different spatial scales, it is possible to forward a model of territorial occupation and land use for the Río Bec apogee period (a.d. 700-850). Geographical and archaeological data, along with chronological and spatial analyses, allow us to reconstruct a built field system made up of distinct agricultural production units. From a socioeconomic perspective, the model suggests that agricultural production was managed at the household scale and that each unit or farmstead was distinct and autonomous from its neighbors.For the past 60 years, the societal-environmental relationship particular to the Southern Maya Lowlands has been debated

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Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization

Cited by 845 publications

References 19 publications

Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

Macro-Economic Cycles Related to Climate change in Dynastic China

Agrarian Features, Farmsteads, and Homesteads in the Río Bec Nuclear Zone, Mexico

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