title: Correlating the ancient Maya and modern European calendars with high-precision AMS 14C dating.
abstract: The reasons for the development and collapse of Maya civilization remain controversial and historical events carved on stone monuments throughout this region provide a remarkable source of data about the rise and fall of these complex polities. Use of these records depends on correlating the Maya and European calendars so that they can be compared with climate and environmental datasets. Correlation constants can vary up to 1000 years and remain controversial. We report a series of high-resolution AMS (14)C dates on a wooden lintel collected from the Classic Period city of Tikal bearing Maya calendar dates. The radiocarbon dates were calibrated using a Bayesian statistical model and indicate that the dates were carved on the lintel between AD 658-696. This strongly supports the Goodman-Martínez-Thompson (GMT) correlation and the hypothesis that climate change played an important role in the development and demise of this complex civilization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA. djk23@psu.edu
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kennett
authors.forename: Irka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hajdas
authors.forename: Brendan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Culleton
authors.forename: Soumaya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Belmecheri
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Hector
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neff
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Awe
authors.forename: Heather V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.forename: Katherine H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Newsom
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Lentz
authors.forename: Flavio S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Anselmetti
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marwan
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Southon
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hodell
authors.forename: Gerald H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Haug
mesh_terms: D002489:Central America; D002910:Chronology as Topic; D005060:Europe; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007197:Indians, Central American / Q000266:history*; D055110:Radiometric Dating / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014934:Wood / Q000032:analysis*