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CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEFORESTATION: Implications for the Maya collapse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2003

Justine M. Shaw
Justine M. Shaw
Affiliation:
Arts and Humanities Division, College of the Redwoods, 7351 Tompkins Hill Road, Eureka, CA 95501, USA
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Abstract

During the ninth century, many sites in the Southern Maya Lowlands were abandoned as elite and commoners felt the effects of the Classic-period Maya collapse. At the same time, sites to the north and east continued to flourish. Recent climatic data indicate that, at this time, much of the Maya area experienced a significant drought. However, this drought does not appear to have uniformly affected the entire region; instead, climate appears to have acted as a mosaic, shifting through time and space. It is hypothesized that one of the key factors responsible for these variable cultural trajectories is localized and regional climate change brought about through irregular anthropogenic deforestation. These changes, when coupled with an out-of-balance cultural system, may have served as a catalyst that sent some parts of the Maya world down the path to systems failure, while other zones were able—at least, temporarily—to adjust and continue.

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Research Article
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Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 157 - 167
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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