Tropical wetland persistence through the Anthropocene: Multiproxy reconstruction of environmental change in a Maya agroecosystem

Krause, Samantha; Beach, Timothy; Luzzadder–Beach, Sheryl; Cook, Duncan; Bozarth, Steven; Valdez, Fred; Guderjan, Thomas H.

doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2021.100284

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…In June 2019, project members worked with a local landowner to make an initial assessment of fields in the modern town of Nuevo Canán. These ancient fields had been recently crosscut by a drainage ditch, revealing construction and deposition patterns remarkably similar to the well-documented fields of the Rio Bravo watershed of Belize [38,68] and in the vicinity of Palenque, Chiapas [69]. In the Rio Bravo watershed and at Palenque, canalized field systems reached their maximum expanse during the Late Classic period, though they were, in part, likely extensions and modifications of earlier systems [68].…”

Section: Agricultural Intensificationmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…These ancient fields had been recently crosscut by a drainage ditch, revealing construction and deposition patterns remarkably similar to the well-documented fields of the Rio Bravo watershed of Belize [38,68] and in the vicinity of Palenque, Chiapas [69]. In the Rio Bravo watershed and at Palenque, canalized field systems reached their maximum expanse during the Late Classic period, though they were, in part, likely extensions and modifications of earlier systems [68]. In the study zone, too, the earliest wetland fields may be the short, simple channels associated with settlements such as El Limonar and others north of Budsilha that we provisionally date to the Preclassic period because of the geometry and organization of their structures [39,70].…”

Section: Agricultural Intensificationmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Finally, while recognizing modern economic factors, including international trade, local markets, and land ownership and usufruct practices are distinctly different from their pre-Hispanic counterparts, we nonetheless argue that more detailed and complete knowledge of ancient landscape transformations can inform practices of land use today. The scale of intensification and the presence of some canalized fields in association with sites like El Limonar, almost certainly occupied by 800 BC or earlier, highlights questions put forward by researchers in the wetland fields of Belize concerning the impact of such practices on the dynamics and timing of the advent of the Anthropocene [68]. The enduring impact of landscape capital like terraces and wetland fields may also continue to influence modern land use in the many communities founded in the study region during the final decades of the 20th century.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala

Golden

Scherer

Schroder³

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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We present results from the archaeological analysis of 331 km2 of high-resolution airborne lidar data collected in the Upper Usumacinta River basin of Mexico and Guatemala. Multiple visualizations of the DEM and multi-spectral data from four lidar transects crossing the Classic period (AD 350–900) Maya kingdoms centered on the sites of Piedras Negras, La Mar, and Lacanja Tzeltal permitted the identification of ancient settlement and associated features of agricultural infrastructure. HDBSCAN (hierarchical density-based clustering of applications with noise) cluster analysis was applied to the distribution of ancient structures to define urban, peri-urban, sub-urban, and rural settlement zones. Interpretations of these remotely sensed data are informed by decades of ground-based archaeological survey and excavations, as well as a rich historical record drawn from inscribed stone monuments. Our results demonstrate that these neighboring kingdoms in three adjacent valleys exhibit divergent patterns of structure clustering and low-density urbanism, distributions of agricultural infrastructure, and economic practices during the Classic period. Beyond meeting basic subsistence needs, agricultural production in multiple areas permitted surpluses likely for the purposes of tribute, taxation, and marketing. More broadly, this research highlights the strengths of HDBSCAN to the archaeological study of settlement distributions when compared to more commonly applied methods of density-based cluster analysis.

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Section: Agricultural Intensificationmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Agricultural Intensificationmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala

Golden

Scherer

Schroder³

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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show abstract

“…Thus, proxies for past maize yields would be a very useful addition to the model and could be used to test the hypothesis more directly. At the moment, it is not entirely clear which potential proxies should be used, but perhaps they could be based on pollen frequencies, soil isotope records [88], or through-time changes in dietary isotopes indicative of maize consumption (e.g, [89,90]). These more direct indicators will be necessary to determine whether the political legitimacy mechanism proposed by Carleton et al [29] is consistent with the totality of evidence in the Classic Maya archaeological and historical records.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Rainfall, temperature, and Classic Maya conflict: A comparison of hypotheses using Bayesian time-series analysis

2021

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Studies published over the last decade have reached contrasting conclusions regarding the impact of climate change on conflict among the Classic Maya (ca. 250-900 CE). Some researchers have argued that rainfall declines exacerbated conflict in this civilisation. However, other researchers have found that the relevant climate variable was increasing summer temperatures and not decreasing rainfall. The goal of the study reported here was to test between these two hypotheses. To do so, we collated annually-resolved conflict and climate data, and then subjected them to a recently developed Bayesian method for analysing count-based times-series. The results indicated that increasing summer temperature exacerbated conflict while annual rainfall variation had no effect. This finding not only has important implications for our understanding of conflict in the Maya region during the Classic Period. It also contributes to the ongoing discussion about the likely impact of contemporary climate change on conflict levels. Specifically, when our finding is placed alongside the results of other studies that have examined temperature and conflict over the long term, it is clear that the impact of climate change on conflict is context dependent.

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“…Cooperative (coercive or voluntaristic) labour (Carballo et al, 2014) is informed through the reconstruction of anthropogenic landscape modifications (Inomata et al, 2019;Prufer & Thompson, 2016) have been used to detect sacred spaces such as caves (Moyes & Montgomery, 2016 and new sites including Classic Maya household plazuelas (Horn & Ford, 2019;Thompson, 2020). The use of lidar across the Maya region has further proven the diversity of ancient Maya cities in regard to settlement dispersal (Canuto et al, 2018), multi-scalar distributions of household wealth and anthropogenic landscape modifications for agriculture, including terracing (Chase & Weishampel, 2016) and massive irrigated field systems (Beach et al, 2019;Krause et al, 2021).…”

Section: Gateway To the Americas Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual cultural landscapes: Geospatial visualizations of past environments

Monteleone

Thompson

Prufer

2021

Archaeological Prospection

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Recent advances in spatial and remote sensing technology have led to new methods in archaeological site identification and reconstruction, allowing archaeologists to investigate landscapes and sites on multiple scales. These remotely conducted surveys create virtual cultural landscapes and seascapes that archaeologists and the public interact with and experience, often better than traditional maps. Our study examines landscape reconstruction and archaeological site classifications from a phenomenological and human behavioural ecology (HBE) perspective. HBE aims to reconstruct how humans interacted with these places as part of their active and passive decision making. Through temporal reconstructions, archaeologists and others can experience and interpret past landscapes and subtle changes in cultural land-and seascapes. Here, we evaluate the use of remotely sensed data (lidar, satellite imagery, sonar, radar, etc.) for developing virtual cultural landscapes while also incorporating Indigenous perspectives. Our study compares two vastly different landscapes and perspectives: a seascape in coastal Alaska, USA, and a neotropical jungle in Belize, Central America. By incorporating ethnographic accounts, oral histories, Indigenous traditional knowledge and community engagement, archaeologists can develop new tools to understand decisions made in the past, especially pertaining to settlement selection and resource procurement. These virtual reconstructions become cognitive images of a possible place that the observer experiences. Virtual cultural landscapes allow archaeologists to reproduce landscapes that may otherwise be invisible and present them to different publics. These processes elucidate how landscapes changed over time based on human behaviours while simultaneously allowing archaeologists to engage with Indigenous communities and the public in the protection of prehistoric and historic sites and sacred spaces through cultural heritage management.

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Tropical wetland persistence through the Anthropocene: Multiproxy reconstruction of environmental change in a Maya agroecosystem

Cited by 22 publications

References 57 publications

Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala

Airborne Lidar Survey, Density-Based Clustering, and Ancient Maya Settlement in the Upper Usumacinta River Region of Mexico and Guatemala

Rainfall, temperature, and Classic Maya conflict: A comparison of hypotheses using Bayesian time-series analysis

Virtual cultural landscapes: Geospatial visualizations of past environments

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