title: Drought, agricultural adaptation, and sociopolitical collapse in the Maya Lowlands.
abstract: Paleoclimate records indicate a series of severe droughts was associated with societal collapse of the Classic Maya during the Terminal Classic period (∼800-950 C.E.). Evidence for drought largely derives from the drier, less populated northern Maya Lowlands but does not explain more pronounced and earlier societal disruption in the relatively humid southern Maya Lowlands. Here we apply hydrogen and carbon isotope compositions of plant wax lipids in two lake sediment cores to assess changes in water availability and land use in both the northern and southern Maya lowlands. We show that relatively more intense drying occurred in the southern lowlands than in the northern lowlands during the Terminal Classic period, consistent with earlier and more persistent societal decline in the south. Our results also indicate a period of substantial drying in the southern Maya Lowlands from ∼200 C.E. to 500 C.E., during the Terminal Preclassic and Early Classic periods. Plant wax carbon isotope records indicate a decline in C4 plants in both lake catchments during the Early Classic period, interpreted to reflect a shift from extensive agriculture to intensive, water-conservative maize cultivation that was motivated by a drying climate. Our results imply that agricultural adaptations developed in response to earlier droughts were initially successful, but failed under the more severe droughts of the Terminal Classic period.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520; pdouglas@caltech.edu.
authors.forename: Peter M J
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520;
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pagani
authors.affiliation: Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118;
authors.forename: Marcello A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Canuto
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences & Land Use and Environmental Change Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.affiliation: Godwin Laboratory for Paleoclimate Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hodell
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543; and Geological Institute, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Timothy I
authors.initials: TI
authors.lastname: Eglinton
authors.affiliation: Department of Geological Sciences & Land Use and Environmental Change Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611;
authors.forename: Jason H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Curtis
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D000383:Agriculture / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D002962:Civilization / Q000266:history; D002980:Climate; D057231:Climate Change; D055864:Droughts / Q000266:history*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D007199:Indians, South American / Q000266:history; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis; D008800:Mexico; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry; D011891:Rain; D013997:Time Factors; D014885:Waxes / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes; D014885:Waxes
keywords: Maya civilization; climate adaptation; compound-specific isotope analysis; drought; societal collapse