The Impact of Microenvironments on Socioeconomic Organization in the Maya Lowlands

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-175
Author(s):  
David Hyde
Keyword(s):  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Socioeconomic Organization ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Climate impact on the development of Pre-Classic Maya civilisation

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1253-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees Nooren ◽  
Wim Z. Hoek ◽  
Brian J. Dermody ◽  
Didier Galop ◽  
Sarah Metcalfe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Beach Ridge ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The impact of climate change on the development and disintegration of Maya civilisation has long been debated. The lack of agreement among existing palaeoclimatic records from the region has prevented a detailed understanding of regional-scale climatic variability, its climatic forcing mechanisms and its impact on the ancient Maya. We present two new palaeo-precipitation records for the central Maya lowlands, spanning the Pre-Classic period (1800 BCE–250 CE), a key epoch in the development of Maya civilisation. A beach ridge elevation record from world's largest late Holocene beach ridge plain provides a regional picture, while Lake Tuspan's diatom record is indicative of precipitation changes at a local scale. We identify centennial-scale variability in palaeo-precipitation that significantly correlates with the North Atlantic δ14C atmospheric record, with a comparable periodicity of approximately 500 years, indicating an important role of North Atlantic atmospheric–oceanic forcing on precipitation in the central Maya lowlands. Our results show that the Early Pre-Classic period was characterised by relatively dry conditions, shifting to wetter conditions during the Middle Pre-Classic period, around the well-known 850 BCE (2.8 ka) event. We propose that this wet period may have been unfavourable for agricultural intensification in the central Maya lowlands, explaining the relatively delayed development of Maya civilisation in this area. A return to relatively drier conditions during the Late Pre-Classic period coincides with rapid agricultural intensification in the region and the establishment of major cities.

Approaches to Monumental Landscapes of the Ancient Maya

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Landscape Archaeology ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Sacred Landscapes ◽  
The Impact

Approaches to Monumental Landscapes of the Ancient Maya showcases interpretations and perspectives of landscape importance in the central Maya lowlands, Belize, and the northern and central Maya highlands with studies spanning over 10,000 years of human occupation in the region. Taking their cues from a robust scholarship on landscape archaeology, urban planning, political history, and settlement pattern studies in Maya research, the authors in this volume explore conceptions of monumentality and landscapes that are the products of long-term research and varied research agendas, falling into three broad conceptual categories: natural and built landscapes, political and economic landscapes, and ritual and sacred landscapes. The chapters explore the concept of monumentality in novel ways and approach the idea of landscape as not just the sum total of how a settlement’s local environs were plied and manipulated to conform to the Maya’s deep-seated and normative notions of sacred geography but also take note of how the lowland Maya actively constructed landscapes of power, meaning, and exchange, which rendered their social worlds imbricated, interdependent, and complex. Though varied in their approaches, the authors are all supported by the Alphawood Foundation, and this volume is a testament to the impact philanthropy can have on scientific research.

USING MULTIPLE LINES OF EVIDENCE TO IDENTIFY PREHISPANIC MAYA BURNT-LIME KILNS IN THE NORTHERN YUCATÁN PENINSULA

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth E. Seligson ◽  
Tomás Gallareta Negrón ◽  
Rossana May Ciau ◽  
George J. Bey
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Spatial Analyses ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Burnt Lime ◽  
Lime Kilns ◽  
Maya Area ◽  
Socioeconomic Organization ◽  
Lime Production ◽  
Lines Of Evidence

This study discusses the investigation of a series of pit-kilns in and around the prehispanic site of Kiuic in the Puuc region of the northern Maya lowlands and presents the multiple lines of evidence that identify these structures as lime production features. The study reports the results of systematic excavations, archaeometric analyses, archaeological experiments, ethnographic inquiries, and spatial analyses. Burnt lime has been used for architectural, dietary, hygienic, and other purposes by the Maya for at least three millennia and yet its importance in prehispanic Maya society is belied by the lack of lime production features identified in the archaeological record. The identification of these structures as lime production features has implications for understanding subregional differences in socioeconomic organization and resource management practices among the prehispanic Maya. This report provides a model for using multiple methods and analyses to investigate and identify lime production kilns that can be applied to societies and landscapes throughout the Maya area and the broader premodern world.

scholarly journals Climate impact on the development of Pre-Classic Maya civilization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees Nooren ◽  
Wim Z. Hoek ◽  
Brian J. Dermody ◽  
Didier Galop ◽  
Sarah Metcalfe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Beach Ridge ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The impact of climate change on the development and disintegration of Maya civilization has long been debated. The lack of agreement among existing palaeoclimatic records from the region has prevented a detailed understanding of regional-scale climatic variability, its climatic forcing mechanisms, and its impact on the ancient Maya. We present two new palaeo-precipitation records for the Central Maya Lowlands, spanning the Pre-Classic period (1800 BCE–250 CE), a key epoch in the development of Maya civilization. Lake Tuspan's diatom record is indicative of precipitation changes at a local scale, while a beach ridge elevation record from world's largest late Holocene beach ridge plain provides a regional picture. We identify centennial-scale variability in palaeo-precipitation that significantly correlates with the North Atlantic δ14C atmospheric record, with a comparable periodicity of approximately 500 years, indicating an important role of North Atlantic atmospheric-oceanic forcing on precipitation in the Central Maya Lowlands. The Early Pre-Classic period was characterized by relatively dry conditions, shifting to wetter conditions during the Middle Pre-Classic period, around the well-known 850 BCE (2.8 ka) event. We propose that this wet period may have been unfavorable for agricultural intensification in the Central Maya Lowlands, explaining the relatively delayed development of Maya civilization in this area. A return to relatively drier conditions during the Late Pre-Classic period coincides with rapid agricultural intensification in the region and the establishment of major cities.

Formation of Lunar Craters and Bright Rays as a Result of Meteorite Impacts

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 415-418
Author(s):  
K. P. Stanyukovich ◽  
V. A. Bronshten
Keyword(s):  
Explosive Charge ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Meteorite Impacts ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Lunar Craters ◽  
The Impact

The phenomena accompanying the impact of large meteorites on the surface of the Moon or of the Earth can be examined on the basis of the theory of explosive phenomena if we assume that, instead of an exploding meteorite moving inside the rock, we have an explosive charge (equivalent in energy), situated at a certain distance under the surface.

The Geosciences Applied to Lunar Exploration

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 169-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Green
Keyword(s):  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Probable Mechanism ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
Geological Model ◽  
Apply Geophysics ◽  
Surface Features ◽  
The Impact

The term geo-sciences has been used here to include the disciplines geology, geophysics and geochemistry. However, in order to apply geophysics and geochemistry effectively one must begin with a geological model. Therefore, the science of geology should be used as the basis for lunar exploration. From an astronomical point of view, a lunar terrain heavily impacted with meteors appears the more reasonable; although from a geological standpoint, volcanism seems the more probable mechanism. A surface liberally marked with volcanic features has been advocated by such geologists as Bülow, Dana, Suess, von Wolff, Shaler, Spurr, and Kuno. In this paper, both the impact and volcanic hypotheses are considered in the application of the geo-sciences to manned lunar exploration. However, more emphasis is placed on the volcanic, or more correctly the defluidization, hypothesis to account for lunar surface features.

Asteroid and Comet Impact Speeds upon Mars: Significance for Panspermia and the Supply of Organics

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Steel
Keyword(s):  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Regions Of Interest ◽  
Significant Fraction ◽  
Organic Chemicals ◽  
Impact Speed ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWhilst lithopanspermia depends upon massive impacts occurring at a speed above some limit, the intact delivery of organic chemicals or other volatiles to a planet requires the impact speed to be below some other limit such that a significant fraction of that material escapes destruction. Thus the two opposite ends of the impact speed distributions are the regions of interest in the bioastronomical context, whereas much modelling work on impacts delivers, or makes use of, only the mean speed. Here the probability distributions of impact speeds upon Mars are calculated for (i) the orbital distribution of known asteroids; and (ii) the expected distribution of near-parabolic cometary orbits. It is found that cometary impacts are far more likely to eject rocks from Mars (over 99 percent of the cometary impacts are at speeds above 20 km/sec, but at most 5 percent of the asteroidal impacts); paradoxically, the objects impacting at speeds low enough to make organic/volatile survival possible (the asteroids) are those which are depleted in such species.

Organic Syntheses During the Impact of a Comet with a Gaseous Planet

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 189-195
Author(s):  
Cesare Guaita ◽  
Roberto Crippa ◽  
Federico Manzini
Keyword(s):  
Polymeric Material ◽  
Molecular Form ◽  
Parent Compound ◽  
Blue Filter ◽  
Organic Syntheses ◽  
The Impact

AbstractA large amount of CO has been detected above many SL9/Jupiter impacts. This gas was never detected before the collision. So, in our opinion, CO was released from a parent compound during the collision. We identify this compound as POM (polyoxymethylene), a formaldehyde (HCHO) polymer that, when suddenly heated, reformes monomeric HCHO. At temperatures higher than 1200°K HCHO cannot exist in molecular form and the most probable result of its decomposition is the formation of CO. At lower temperatures, HCHO can react with NH3 and/or HCN to form high UV-absorbing polymeric material. In our opinion, this kind of material has also to be taken in to account to explain the complex evolution of some SL9 impacts that we observed in CCD images taken with a blue filter.

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