Dublin Core
Creator
Lisa J. Lucero and Jean T. Larmon
Title
"Climate Change, Mesoamerica, and the Classic Maya Collapse"
Source
Climate Changes in the Holocene: Impacts and Human Adaptation (pp. 165-182)
Description
Mesoamerica covers a vast geographic area with its deserts, semi-arid upland, and tropical highlands and lowlands, and includes Mexico, Central America, and parts of the Southwest United States. This chapter discusses the impact of climate change in Mesoamerica, followed by a more detailed presentation of the Classic Maya, a tropical lowland society. During the Classic period, the Maya built hundreds of urban centers with royal temples and tombs, palaces, inscribed monuments, large reservoir systems, and intricate prestige items, such as exquisitely painted ceramics and incised jade and obsidian. The ancient Maya were a rainfall-dependent society, relying on water for craft production, for agricultural practices, and for maintaining the political economy. The Maya never returned to the southern lowland centers, perhaps because they thrived in their new sociopolitical and environmental homes. Intimate knowledge of their environment allowed the Maya to successfully adapt in a lowland tropical region for millennia.
Date
2018