🔄FROM THE ARCHIVE New research may shed more light on the ancient civilization's 'collapse.'
For hundreds of years, the ancient Maya flourished in cities located in and around present-day Guatemala. Then, during a period ranging roughly from A.D. 900 to 1100, they rapidly began abandoning their sites — moving so abruptly they even left unfinished construction projects or inscription in their wake. This period known as the “collapse” is one that continues to fascinate archeologists and non-archaeologists alike.
Timothy Beach, a geoarchaeologist who specializes in Maya and tropical ecosystem interactions, also points to drought as a leading factor that likely lead to the abandonment of sites in this region. He says the Maya dealt with a seasonal drought every year, in part, because they were too far removed from perennial groundwater. The Maya addressed this by constructing things like dams and reservoirs to manage the water and soil, which mostly worked well for many years.
Long-term climate studies are also crucial for understanding factors related to drought and extreme rainfall. Beach says better thermometers are making this work easier. Archeologists also look at isotopes from lake sediments and cave deposits to learn more about the climate and are getting — or will soon-be-gettting — better skeletal isotope records and DNA records, which will tell researchers more about that population.
In spite of all these advancements, there's still much to learn from the old fashioned methods, too. “Even with Lidar, even with all the biochemical tests we can do on the soil the DNA tests we can do on the bones, we still have to go back there and walk around and dig,” Golden says.One of the things that archeologists value is the ability to meet and speak with the people who live in the sites they work. “There are still so many Maya people across the landscape.
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