Human Impact on the Ancient Animals of the Maya World: The Regional Maya Zooarchaeology Project

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With National Science Foundation funding, Dr. Kitty F. Emery will create a database of Maya zooarchaeological data and test its utility in an analysis of changes in ancient animal distributions and population dynamics in the southern Maya lowland region of Mesoamerica. The database will combine new database management with GIS technology to provide a powerful resource for archaeological and biological research in the Maya area. Compiled zoogeographic data will contribute to an understanding of ancient Maya impact on animal populations and test the hypothesis that the ancient Maya decimated their local faunas and environments.The world today faces a record loss of animal diversity and faunal habitats, largely as a result of human impact. This is particularly true in the subtropical countries encompassing the Maya world (Guatemala and Belize, and parts of Honduras and Mexico) where human activity has been substantial for over 2000 years. Current archaeological thought holds that the ancient Maya had significant and negative effects on animal biodiversity and biogeography by reducing animal populations, altering and fragmenting habitats, and interrupting animal community dynamics. The lack of a suitably robust and flexible database system has prevented zooarchaeologists from adequately testing this hypothesis. However, recent advances in technologies for distributional analysis using relational databases make this an opportune moment for an integrated research initiative that will first, refine current methods of zooarchaeological data management to create a Maya zooarchaeology database, and second, use this database in a preliminary test of the prevailing hypothesis of ancient Maya impact on faunas and environments.The project will use available zooarchaeological data from 20 southern lowland Maya sites to create and test a customized relational database and geo-referenced GIS system that is both flexible enough to capture data from a diverse zooarchaeological sample and effective as a research tool in archaeological, biological, and conservation science. Intrinsic to the database creation will be extensive consultation with international experts in database management, zooarchaeology, and Maya archaeology, and the final database product will be circulated widely for critique and later refinement. Through collaboration and consultation with database specialists, archaeologists and conservation biologists working in the Maya world, and Guatemalan research institutions, the database format and contents will be made available for further testing, refinement, and use by the scientific community. This research has important intellectual merit in the creation of an effective means for Mesoamerican zooarchaeology data management that will be made available to interdisciplinary research in both the archaeological and biological sciences, as well as in the use of relational database and GIS systems in the zooarchaeological evaluation of ancient Maya impact on animals. The broader impact of this study lies in the development of infrastructure for future zooarchaeological research, the collaboration between international scholars and students, and, most importantly, in the fact that these and later studies will contribute to biodiversity conservation by providing cogent and clear lessons about the long history of human/animal interactions and their implications for our own impact on modern environments.