Environmental Dynamics in the Southern Maya Lowlands: A Network of High-Resolution, Multi-Proxy Reconstructions of Prehispanic Biomass Burning and Environmental Change

玛雅南部低地的环境动态：西班牙前生物质燃烧和环境变化的高分辨率、多代理重建网络

• 批准号: 1322775
• 负责人: Francisco Estrada-Belli
• 金额: $ 7.78万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-01 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1322775&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Environmental; Dynamics; Southern; Maya; Lowlands

With the National Science Foundation support, archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli and geographers David Wahl and Lysanna Anderson will conduct an interdisciplinary research study into the dynamics of environmental and climate change, and human-environmental interaction in the Maya Biosphere Reserve forest in northeastern Guatemala. This area was among the most densely settled by the Maya until 1000 years ago. The study will contribute to an ongoing effort to create a network of high-resolution reconstructions of environmental change and land use practices based on multiple lines of evidence for bio-mass burning, climate change, vegetation change, and settlement history for the Maya Lowlands spanning several millennia. Environmental change, either anthropogenically induced and/or associated with natural climate variability, has been posited as contributing to two periods of marked population decline in the southern Maya Lowlands. The first episode occurred ~200 CE and is thought to have affected a number of large Preclassic period (2000 BCE-250 CE) centers. The second occurred at the end of the Classic period (250-900 CE) and is commonly referred as the "Maya Collapse" having interrupted 2000 years of occupation at most sites in the southern Maya lowlands. For both cases, climate change and environmental degradation have been proposed as the primary causes of extensive demographic decline. Fire was certainly important to the Maya in landscape management and building activities, although the extent to which it was used remains largely unknown. Moreover, a full picture of the chronology and causes of environmental change during the Pre-Hispanic period has yet to emerge. Many of the records produced so far are insecurely dated, are lacking from key cultural zones, or lack sufficient temporal resolution to precisely date the timing of events and changes. Examination of these landscapes on a case-by-case basis will provide a foundation for gaining new insights into the dynamic climate/environment and human/environment relationships.This study will provide a detailed record of human occupation and environmental change from Lake Eknaab, located in the Holmul region, an area of the Maya Lowlands where settlement began at 1000 BCE and where large urban centers flourished from 250 BCE to 900 CE. The lake is situated between two major centers: Cival, which was occupied in the Preclassic period (300 BCE- 250 CE) and Witzna whose occupation peaked in the Classic period (250-900 CE). In order to model the effects of environmental degradation and/or climate change on the cultural trajectory of the region, this research will use a wide range of paleoenvironmental indicators in conjunction with detailed settlement history. High-resolution fossil charcoal analysis will be employed to reconstruct biomass burning, pollen will be used to indicate nearby agricultural activity, stable isotopes will serve as a proxy for climate variability, and sediment characteristics will be used to assess changes in hydrology and sedimentation regimes. Archaeological surveys and selective excavations near coring sites will augment interpretive capability of environmental proxies.The broader impact of this study lies in its ability to 1) provide a detailed record of human-environment interactions in the history of Maya civilization, separating human impacts from climate change, and evaluate any correlation with settlement abandonments; 2) fill an important gap in our knowledge of landscape evolution and climate variability in an area of fragile wetland environments that supported human activities for millennia; 3) generate baseline archaeological data on the settlement of the Maya Lowlands.

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，考古学家弗朗西斯科·埃斯特拉达-贝利、地理学家大卫·沃尔和莱莎娜·安德森将在危地马拉东北部的玛雅生物圈保护区森林进行一项跨学科的研究，研究环境和气候变化的动态，以及人类与环境的相互作用。直到1000年前，这里一直是玛雅人居住最密集的地区之一。这项研究将有助于建立一个基于生物物质燃烧、气候变化、植被变化和玛雅低地几千年定居历史的多种证据的环境变化和土地利用实践的高分辨率重建网络。环境变化，无论是人为引起的还是与自然气候变化相关的，都被认为是导致玛雅南部低地两次显著人口下降的原因。第一次发作发生在公元200年左右，被认为影响了许多大的前古典时期（公元前2000年-公元前250年）中心。第二次发生在古典时期末期（公元250-900年），通常被称为“玛雅崩溃”，中断了玛雅南部低地大部分地区2000年的占领。在这两种情况下，气候变化和环境退化都被认为是人口大量减少的主要原因。对于玛雅人来说，火在景观管理和建筑活动中无疑是重要的，尽管它的使用程度在很大程度上仍然未知。此外，关于前西班牙时期环境变化的年表和原因的全貌尚未出现。到目前为止，许多记录的日期都不可靠，缺乏关键文化区的记录，或者缺乏足够的时间分辨率来精确地确定事件和变化的时间。在个案的基础上对这些景观进行检查，将为获得对动态气候/环境和人类/环境关系的新见解提供基础。这项研究将提供关于人类居住和环境变化的详细记录，该记录来自位于Holmul地区的Eknaab湖，该地区是玛雅低地的一个地区，公元前1000年开始定居，公元前250年至公元900年，大型城市中心蓬勃发展。这个湖位于两个主要中心之间：前古典时期（公元前300年-公元250年）被占领的西瓦尔和古典时期（公元250年-900年）被占领的威兹纳。为了模拟环境退化和/或气候变化对该地区文化轨迹的影响，本研究将使用广泛的古环境指标，并结合详细的定居历史。高分辨率化石木炭分析将用于重建生物质燃烧，花粉将用于指示附近的农业活动，稳定同位素将作为气候变率的代理，沉积物特征将用于评估水文和沉积制度的变化。在取心地点附近进行考古调查和选择性挖掘将增强环境代用物的解释能力。这项研究的更广泛的影响在于它能够1)提供玛雅文明史上人类与环境相互作用的详细记录，将人类影响与气候变化分开，并评估与定居放弃的任何相关性；2)填补了我们对数千年来支持人类活动的脆弱湿地环境的景观演变和气候变率的重要认识空白；3)生成关于玛雅低地定居点的基线考古数据。