PALEOLIMNOLOGY OF THE MAYA LOWLANDS

Abstract

Since the late 1950s, scientists have used sediment cores from lakes on the Yucatan Peninsula to explore the complex interactions among climate, environment, and ancient Maya culture. Early paleolimnological studies generally assumed that late Holocene climate was invariable. Consequently, paleolimnologically inferred environmental changes that occurred during the past 3,000 years or so—for example, forest decline and soil erosion—were attributed wholly to anthropogenic activities such as land clearance for agriculture and construction. Recent high-resolution, proxy-based paleoclimate records from continental and insular sites around the Caribbean Sea contradict the assumption of late Holocene climate stability. Instead, these core data suggest that regional drying began about 3,000 years ago and that the past three millennia were characterized by variable moisture availability. Paleoclimate inferences from Lakes Chichancanab and Punta Laguna, northern Yucatan Peninsula, indicate that drought events over the past 2,600 years were cyclical. These dry events, thought to have been driven by solar forcing, appear to have occurred approximately every two centuries (about 208 years). The driest period of the late Holocene occurred between A.D. 800 and 1000, coincident with the Classic Maya Collapse. We review the history of paleolimnological studies in the Maya Lowlands, discuss the difficulty of differentiating climatic signals from anthropogenic signals in late Holocene lake sediment profiles, and assess current understanding of past climate changes in the region based on regional lacustrine sediment studies.