NSF/SBE-RCUK Maya Archaeology and Palaeoecology Partnership Project

古玛雅文明是被研究最多的古代文明之一。他们以其精致的建筑、象形文字的铭文、天体日历和神圣的统治以及相关的仪式而闻名。然而，它们也因大约1000年前突然“消失”而闻名。古典文明的“崩溃”被认为是由日益严重的干旱和环境疏忽以及无法适应这些气候压力造成的。这是一种过于简单化的叙述，因为玛雅人从未消失，但他们在等级森严的古典社会急剧衰落后分散了。玛雅人目前居住在墨西哥，伯利兹，危地马拉和洪都拉斯的部分地区，那里有20多种不同的玛雅语言。古典社会的崩溃不是发生在所有玛雅中心，也不是同时发生的。在16世纪西班牙人到达时，墨西哥旅游海岸的图卢姆（Tulum）这个魅力四射、上镜的玛雅仪式中心仍被占领。“玛雅考古与古生态学合作项目”（MAPPP）详细研究了古玛雅社会与气候变化之间的复杂关系，并考虑到人们如何管理资源和耕种土地。MAPPP的重点是伯利兹河谷，这是一个玛雅地区，在古典时期之后经历了衰落，但一些仪式中心的占领在崩溃后继续存在。MAPPP将超越“干旱导致崩溃”的简单叙述，以确定古玛雅人在面临气候不稳定时采取了哪些适应策略。在这里，我们的问题是：在极端干旱的情况下，古玛雅人是如何改变他们的土地使用策略的？他们是如何在后古典时期（崩溃之后）继续占领的？他们改变了耕种和生活的方式吗？这些问题将通过检查埋葬的数量和时间来衡量人口如何随时间变化来回答。MAPPP将研究人工制品和纪念性建筑，以了解人们如何决定在贸易和建筑方面使用他们的资源，以及这些资源如何随着气候压力而变化。古玛雅的环境将通过湖泊沉积物中的地球化学和微化石（花粉、木炭和藻类遗迹）特征来重现，这些特征记录了它们沉积时周围环境的性质。通过结合所有这些不同的证据线，我们将建立一幅关于古典社会如何与他们的物理世界相互作用以及这种相互作用如何响应极端气候事件的图景。MAPPP将提供对不同土地利用系统在气候变化情况下的复原力和可持续性的理解，这是当前伯利兹面临的环境问题，因为伯利兹面临着来自旅游业、发展和农业企业的越来越大的压力。

The ancient Maya are one of the most studied past civilisations. They are renown for their elaborate architecture, hieroglyphic inscriptions, celestial calendar, and divine rulership with associated ritual. They are also known, however, for their sudden 'disappearance' around 1000 years ago. The 'collapse' of the Classic civilisation is argued to have been caused by increasing drought and environmental negligence and an inability to adapt to these climate pressures. This is an over-simplistic narrative, because the Maya never disappeared, but they dispersed after the dramatic decline of the hierarchical Classic society. The Maya currently reside in parts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras where over 20 different Maya languages are spoken. Nor did the collapse of the Classic society occur in all Maya centres, nor at the same time. The charismatic and photogenic Maya ceremonial centre of Tulum on Mexico's tourist coast was still occupied at the time of Spanish arrival in the 16th century. The 'Maya Archaeology and Palaeoecology Partnership Project' (MAPPP) examines in detail this complex relationship between ancient Maya society and climate change, taking into account how people managed their resources and farmed their land. MAPPP focuses on the Belize River Valley, a Maya region that experienced decline after the Classic period, but some occupation of ceremonial centres continued following the collapse. MAPPP will move beyond the simple narrative of 'drought caused collapse' to determine what adaption strategies were adopted by the ancient Maya as they faced climate instability. Here, we ask: How did the ancient Maya change their land use strategies in the event of extreme drought? How did they continue occupation into the post-Classic period (following collapse)? Did they change how they farmed and lived? These questions will be answered by examining the numbers and timings of burials to gauge how populations changed through time. MAPPP will examine artefacts and monumental construction to understand how people decided to use their resources with respect to trade and building and how these changed with climate pressures. The environments of the Ancient Maya will be recreated using geochemical and microfossil (pollen, charcoal and algal remains) signatures in lake sediments that archive the nature of the surrounding environments at the time they were deposited. By combining all of these different lines of evidence, we will build up a picture of how the Classic society interacted with their physical world and how this changed in response to extreme climate events. MAPPP will provide understanding on the resilience and sustainability of different land use systems in the event of climate change, which are current environmental concerns as Belize is under increasing pressures from tourism, development, and agro-business.