Paleoenvironments and Ancient Settlement at San Bartolo, Peten, Guatemala

区域景观是人类与环境长期动态互动的产物。至关重要的是，人类必须有长远的眼光，以便更好地了解当今环境正在发生的变化，包括世界热带森林地区正在迅速发生的变化。玛雅低地是一个热带雨林地区，有着悠久的人类占领和景观变化的历史。古代玛雅文明在从前经典到经典时期(约公元100-300年)的过渡过程中经历了深刻的变革。早些时候的调查表明，这些转变伴随着重大的环境变化，特别是占据南部和中部玛雅低地大部分地区的湿地内的水文和生态变化。该项目旨在弄清这些变化的性质、范围、原因和后果，这些变化围绕着危地马拉佩滕区的圣巴托洛和徐尔顿古老社区，古代玛雅文明的中心地带。圣巴托洛在前经典时期接近尾声时被遗弃，而徐尔敦在随后的经典时期继续蓬勃发展。这项研究将阐明这两个古老中心的居民对不断变化的环境做出了(或没有)什么样的适应，这可能使他们走上了截然不同的轨迹。将使用遥感(使用卫星图像和航空照片)和地面调查相结合的方式来定义和分类研究区域的湿地环境，划定古代人类聚居地的范围，并确定古代玛雅人用来改变湿地水文的特征，如运河。将在几个湿地进行地质考古挖掘，以恢复湿地内水文和生态变化的沉积记录，以及周围土地发生土壤侵蚀的时间和严重程度。将从当地池塘中提取沉积物岩芯，以恢复花粉的时间序列，用于记录该地区发生的植被和土地利用变化。这项调查的结果将有助于重建圣巴托洛-徐尔顿地区土地利用变化的历史，特别是在公元100年至公元300年期间，见证了许多社区的灭亡和其他社区的发展。这项调查将记录该区域湿地在此期间发生的环境变化的类型，并帮助确定这些变化在多大程度上是由人类土地利用变化(如砍伐森林和农业做法)或自然气候波动造成的。该项目还将阐明玛雅人是如何成功和失败地适应持续的环境变化的。热带玛雅低地的大片地区在被遗弃了几个世纪后，目前正在被农民重新殖民。由此产生的数据将有助于阐明玛雅低地以湿地为主的地区的相对环境脆弱性和弹性，以及不同农业战略和其他土地利用可能对该地区产生的影响。

Regional landscapes are the product of the long-term dynamics of human-environment interactions. It is critical that humankind has a long-term perspective in order to best understand ongoing changes in today's environment, including changes that are rapidly playing out in the world's tropical forest regions. The Maya Lowlands is a tropical forest region with a long history of human occupation and landscape change. Ancient Maya civilization experienced profound transformations during the transition from its Preclassic to Classic periods (ca, A.D. 100 - 300). Earlier investigations suggest that significant environmental changes accompanied these transitions, in particular hydrological and ecological transformations within the wetlands that occupy large portions of the southern and central Maya Lowlands. This project seeks to clarify the nature, extent, causes, and consequences of these changes in the wetlands surrounding the ancient communities of San Bartolo and Xultun in the Peten District of Guatemala, the heartland of ancient Maya civilization. San Bartolo was abandoned near the close of the Preclassic whereas Xultun continued to thrive and grow during the ensuing Classic period. This research will shed light on what kinds of adaptations to a changing environment were (or were not) made by the inhabitants of these two ancient centers that may have put them on very different trajectories. A combination of remote sensing (using both satellite imagery and air photos) and ground survey will be used to define and classify wetland environments in the study area, delimit the extent of ancient human settlement, and identify features such as canals that were used by the ancient Maya to modify wetland hydrology. Geoarchaeological excavations will be carried out in several wetlands to recover a sedimentary record of hydrological and ecological change within the wetlands and of the timing and severity of soils erosion that occurred on surrounding lands. Sediment cores will be taken from local ponds to recover a time-sequence of pollen which will be used to document vegetation and land use changes that occurred within the region. Results of this investigation will allow reconstruction of the history of land use change in the San Bartolo-Xultun region, particularly during the period between A.D. 100 and 300, which witnessed the demise of many communities and the growth of others. This investigation will document the types of environmental changes that occurred in the region's wetlands during this time and help determine to what degree these transformations resulted from human land use changes (such as deforestation and agricultural practices) or natural climatic fluctuation. The project will also shed light on how the Maya variably succeeded and failed to adapt to ongoing environmental changes. Large areas of the tropical Maya Lowlands are currently being re-colonized by farmers after centuries of abandonment. The resulting data will help illuminate the relative environmental fragility and resilience of wetland-dominated areas in the Maya Lowlands and the impacts that different agricultural strategies and other land uses are likely to have in this region.