Ancient Maya Agroforestry and Water Management Systems at Tikal

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下。大卫·伦茨、尼古拉斯·邓宁和弗农·斯卡伯勒，以及一个国际科学家小组，将在危地马拉北部的蒂卡尔遗址进行两个季节的考古和古环境实地研究。这项研究的目的是为了更好地了解蒂卡尔的古玛雅人与当地环境之间的相互作用。特别令人感兴趣的将是建造和维持这座大城市所需的森林资源，以及基地核心和周边地区水管理系统的性质和复杂性。本研究要解决的主要理论问题集中在古玛雅人如何在古典晚期的热带森林环境中维持大量人口的问题上。这个问题的必然结果是，如何实现农业集约化以及如何管理诸如水和林产品等其他基本资源。该小组特别对蒂卡尔灌溉系统的发展感兴趣，因为它们有助于农业活动、森林砍伐和季节性湿地的开发。所有这些活动都是最初可持续土地利用战略的重要组成部分，但最终未能满足不断增加的人口的需求。这种与健全的生态原则的螺旋式脱节，加上气候变化的潜在加剧因素，无疑导致了玛雅的“崩溃”。此外，人们还假设蒂卡尔的水库和小湖泊是政治杠杆和集中社会权力的支点。测试这些假设将提供见解，将扩大对社会复杂性的上升的理解，特别是玛雅政治经济的扩张，总的来说，文化进化的轨迹。此外，这项调查将提供至关重要的数据，以回答古玛雅文明最伟大和持久的谜团之一：土地利用活动在玛雅城市中心的兴衰中所起的作用。这项研究的更广泛影响可以从与考古研究和教育有关的五个具体目标中观察到。目标是：1)在促进实践训练、教学和学习的同时推进考古学的发现，2)完成这项调查的所有方面并广泛传播结果，3)通过向辛辛那提大学研究生和本科生以及其他美国和危地马拉大学的学生讲授地理考古实地方法课程，加强研究和教育的基础设施，4)通过为城市学者和目前不存在的未被充分代表的少数群体提供实地研究机会，扩大未被充分代表的群体对科学的参与；5)通过在广泛的时间尺度上对环境问题产生先进的理解，并通过培训新的多样化的环境考古学家骨干，他们将成为未来的领导者和教师，从而为社会带来利益。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. David Lentz, Nicholas Dunning and Vernon Scarborough, along with an international team of scientists, will conduct two seasons of archaeological and paleoenvironmental field research at the Tikal site in northern Guatemala. The purpose of this study is to establish a greater understanding of the interaction between the ancient Maya of Tikal and their local environment. Of particular interest will be the forest resources required to build and sustain their great city and the nature and complexity of the water management system in the site core and the surrounding area. The primary theoretical question to be addressed in this study focuses on the lingering concern of how the ancient Maya in the northern Petén were able to sustain large populations in the midst of a tropical forest environment during the Late Classic period. A corollary to this question asks how agricultural intensification was achieved and how other essential resources, such as water and forest products, were managed. In particular, the team is interested in the development of irrigation systems at Tikal as they contributed to agricultural activity, forest clearance and exploitation of the seasonal wetlands. All of these activities were essential components of an initially sustainable land use strategy that eventually failed to meet the demands of an escalating population. This spiraling disconnect with sound ecological principles, coupled with the potentially exacerbating factor of climate change, undoubtedly contributed to the Maya "collapse." Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the reservoirs and small lakes of Tikal served as a fulcrum of political leverage and concentrated social power. Testing these hypotheses will provide insights that will broaden understanding of the rise of social complexity, the expansion of the Maya political economy specifically and, in general terms, the trajectory of cultural evolution. Moreover, this investigation will provide data vital to answering one of the greatest and enduring mysteries of the ancient Maya civilization: the role of land use activities as they contributed to the rise and fall of Maya urban centers.The broader impacts of the study can be observed in five specific goals relating to archaeological research and education. The goals are: 1) to advance discovery in archaeology while promoting hands-on training, teaching and learning, 2) to complete all aspects of this investigation and disseminate the results broadly, 3) to enhance the infrastructure for research and education through the teaching of a geoarchaeology field methods class for University of Cincinnati graduate and undergraduate students, as well as students from other US and Guatemalan universities, 4) to broaden participation from underrepresented groups in science by offering opportunities for field research to urban scholars and underrepresented minorities where none currently exist, and 5) to accrue benefits to society through the generation of advanced understanding of environmental issues across broad time scales and through the training of a new diverse cadre of environmental archaeologists who will become the leaders and teachers of tomorrow.