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. O

SUBMITTER: Douglas PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4426404 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature