Regional landscapes are the product of the long-term dynamics of human-environment interactions. It is critical that humankind has a long-term perspective in order to best understand ongoing changes in today's environment, including changes that are rapidly playing out in the world's tropical forest regions. The Maya Lowlands is a tropical forest region with a long history of human occupation and landscape change. Ancient Maya civilization experienced profound transformations during the transition from its Preclassic to Classic periods (ca, A.D. 100 - 300). Earlier investigations suggest that significant environmental changes accompanied these transitions, in particular hydrological and ecological transformations within the wetlands that occupy large portions of the southern and central Maya Lowlands. This project seeks to clarify the nature, extent, causes, and consequences of these changes in the wetlands surrounding the ancient communities of San Bartolo and Xultun in the Peten District of Guatemala, the heartland of ancient Maya civilization. San Bartolo was abandoned near the close of the Preclassic whereas Xultun continued to thrive and grow during the ensuing Classic period. This research will shed light on what kinds of adaptations to a changing environment were (or were not) made by the inhabitants of these two ancient centers that may have put them on very different trajectories. A combination of remote sensing (using both satellite imagery and air photos) and ground survey will be used to define and classify wetland environments in the study area, delimit the extent of ancient human settlement, and identify features such as canals that were used by the ancient Maya to modify wetland hydrology. Geoarchaeological excavations will be carried out in several wetlands to recover a sedimentary record of hydrological and ecological change within the wetlands and of the timing and severity of soils erosion that occurred on surrounding lands. Sediment cores will be taken from local ponds to recover a time-sequence of pollen which will be used to document vegetation and land use changes that occurred within the region.
Results of this investigation will allow reconstruction of the history of land use change in the San Bartolo-Xultun region, particularly during the period between A.D. 100 and 300, which witnessed the demise of many communities and the growth of others. This investigation will document the types of environmental changes that occurred in the region's wetlands during this time and help determine to what degree these transformations resulted from human land use changes (such as deforestation and agricultural practices) or natural climatic fluctuation. The project will also shed light on how the Maya variably succeeded and failed to adapt to ongoing environmental changes. Large areas of the tropical Maya Lowlands are currently being re-colonized by farmers after centuries of abandonment. The resulting data will help illuminate the relative environmental fragility and resilience of wetland-dominated areas in the Maya Lowlands and the impacts that different agricultural strategies and other land uses are likely to have in this region.
