TY - JOUR
T1 - A late Holocene paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Agua Caliente, southern Belize, linked to regional climate variability and cultural change at the Maya polity of Uxbenká
AU - Walsh, Megan K.
AU - Prufer, Keith M.
AU - Culleton, Brendan J.
AU - Kennett, Douglas J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation ( HSD-0827305 ; GRFP-2006022778 ) and the Alphawood Foundation . MKW completed the field work and lab analysis and wrote the manuscript. KMP assisted with field work and writing the manuscript. BJC assisted with field work and lab analysis and edited the manuscript. DJK designed the broader research program and assisted with writing and editing the manuscript. We are grateful to the Belize Institute of Archaeology for providing the Uxbenká Archaeological Project with permits for the project and Hydromet Belize for the modern precipitation records. We also thank Thomas Harper and Amy Thompson for creating the study area maps, and John Jones for his initial guidance and access to his pollen reference collection. Additionally, two anonymous reviewers provided very helpful feedback on the manuscript.
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - We report high-resolution macroscopic charcoal, pollen and sedimentological data for Agua Caliente, a freshwater lagoon located in southern Belize, and infer a late Holocene record of human land-use/climate interactions for the nearby prehistoric Maya center of Uxbenká. Land-use activities spanning the initial clearance of forests for agriculture through the drought-linked Maya collapse and continuing into the historic recolonization of the region are all reflected in the record. Human land alteration in association with swidden agriculture is evident early in the record during the Middle Preclassic starting ca. 2600. cal. yr. BP. Fire slowly tapered off during the Late and Terminal Classic, consistent with the gradual political demise and depopulation of the Uxbenká polity sometime between ca. 1150 and 950. cal. yr. BP, during a period of multiple droughts evident in a nearby speleothem record. Fire activity was at its lowest during the Maya Postclassic ca. 950-430. cal. yr. BP, but rose consistent with increasing recolonization of the region between ca. 430. cal. yr. BP and present. These data suggest that this environmental record provides both a proxy for 2800. years of cultural change, including colonization, growth, decline, and reorganization of regional populations, and an independent confirmation of recent paleoclimate reconstructions from the same region.
AB - We report high-resolution macroscopic charcoal, pollen and sedimentological data for Agua Caliente, a freshwater lagoon located in southern Belize, and infer a late Holocene record of human land-use/climate interactions for the nearby prehistoric Maya center of Uxbenká. Land-use activities spanning the initial clearance of forests for agriculture through the drought-linked Maya collapse and continuing into the historic recolonization of the region are all reflected in the record. Human land alteration in association with swidden agriculture is evident early in the record during the Middle Preclassic starting ca. 2600. cal. yr. BP. Fire slowly tapered off during the Late and Terminal Classic, consistent with the gradual political demise and depopulation of the Uxbenká polity sometime between ca. 1150 and 950. cal. yr. BP, during a period of multiple droughts evident in a nearby speleothem record. Fire activity was at its lowest during the Maya Postclassic ca. 950-430. cal. yr. BP, but rose consistent with increasing recolonization of the region between ca. 430. cal. yr. BP and present. These data suggest that this environmental record provides both a proxy for 2800. years of cultural change, including colonization, growth, decline, and reorganization of regional populations, and an independent confirmation of recent paleoclimate reconstructions from the same region.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.yqres.2014.01.013
DO - 10.1016/j.yqres.2014.01.013
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84904035795
SN - 0033-5894
VL - 82
SP - 38
EP - 50
JO - Quaternary Research (United States)
JF - Quaternary Research (United States)
IS - 1
ER -