The Maya and Environmental Stress from Past to Present

Download or read book The Maya and Environmental Stress from Past to Present written by Eva Jobbová and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both the perceived successes and failures of the Maya are often linked to their relationship with the local environment and their response to episodes of climate change over a period of nearly 2000 years. However, our understanding of human responses to environmental stress has mostly been shaped by a narrow focus on drought as a cause for societal collapse, even in relatively well-watered tropical regions. We still know little about the choices humans make in response to extreme variability in rainfall in different environmental conditions and on multiple timescales. This work responds to recent debates and new analytical opportunities in Maya studies, provided by developments such as an increased volume of paleoclimatic data, the growing field of settlement archaeology and advances in Maya epigraphy.