Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

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

2002; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 13; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0956536102132093

1469-1787

Richard Hansen, Steven R. Bozarth, John Jacob, David Wahl, Thomas Schreiner,

Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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.