Reconstructing Resource Availability, Use, and Management at Naachtun (Guatemala), a Regional Maya Center of the Classic Period
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)
One of the objectives of the Naachtun Archaeological Project is to conduct a multidisciplinary study of the resources used by the site’s ancient Maya inhabitants, as well as the evolution of its economy through time, in order to better understand the social and political history of this city. We propose to discuss two issues related to the availability and management of various resources, focusing on the supply strategies and the technical system associated to their use. How did the Maya of Naachtun manage the soils, water and forests and positively construct their surrounding landscape to sustain a large population during roughly a millennium of prosperity? Do the variations observed in the availability and management of these resources reflect phases of environmental and/or economic stress? To what extent did human activities and climate changes impact the local environment and what were the consequent adaptive strategies? Combining paleoenvironmental and material culture studies, these questions are broached via a diachronic approach to evidence the temporal variability of human responses to environmental variations. This perspective would highlight the importance of resources management strategies in the socio-cultural cycles and population dynamics we observe within the history of Lowland Maya cities.
Other Keywords
Maya •
Geoarchaeology •
Paleobotany •
Agriculture •
Land Use •
Wetlands •
Zooarchaeology •
Paleoenvironmental Studies •
Wood Charcoal •
Resource Management
Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)
- Documents (6)
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Animal Resource Use and Management by Naachtun's Elite (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The Naachtun Project has collected a large faunal assemblage since the first field campaign. This material is analyzed as part of doctoral research focusing on the site's subsistence economy. The analysis is based on specific archaeozoological methods, through which it is possible to identify the different animal remains and draw up a list of the species that were used by the site's ancient inhabitants. Many preliminary issues must be resolved: Which were the acquisition strategies of these...
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Charcoal Analysis to Reconstruct the Ancient Wood Economy of Naachtun (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Researchers have long considered that the relations between ancient Maya societies and their tropical forested landscape significantly affected social and environmental development throughout the Maya Lowlands. The lingering debate contrasting the hypothesis of a massive deforestation during the Classic period with a model of careful environmental management has not been resolved, and places forest resources exploitation at the center of the rise and development of ancient Maya cities. In...
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Environmental and Socio-Environmental Dynamics in the Subtropical Maya Lowlands: Hydrosystems and Agrosystems of the Wetlands (bajos) around Naachtun (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The eco-socio-system of the wetlands (bajos) situated around the city of Naachtun is studied in relation with the water and soil resources (availability, use, management), between environment, climate and societies. The objectives are to characterize the evolution of the hydrosystems and agrosystems during the last 3 millennia and particularly during the Classic Period. The approach is systemic and multi-scalar, based on interdisciplinary works with geoarchaeological, geomorphological,...
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Introduction to Research at Naachtun: Archaeological and Paleoenvironmental Issues (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
The maya site of Naachtun is an important regional center of the Classic period, located in northeastern Peten. Founded after the decline of the Preclassic Centers of the Mirador Region, Naachtun is occupied roughly during a millenary until its abandonment (ca. AD 950). This site, settled on the margins of a huge bajo, is a good case study to understand strategies of resources management (water supply, soils, wood, fauna, and shells among others). All are available in its immediate vicinity, but...
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Time and Space at Naachtun: The Chronological Sequence, Settlement, and Land Use Patterns. (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Since 2011, a program of surveying and mapping together with a series of more than 80 test pits have been conducted during four field seasons around the monumental epicenter of Naachtun, over a large residential area covering approximately 175 ha. These programs resulted in an accurate map of constructed and empty spaces, and in a relatively complete sequence of the site's occupation, from the very onset of the Early Classic to the Terminal Classic. The first objective of these investigations is...
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Where and How did the Maya Practice Agriculture in the Classic Period City of Naachtun, Guatemala? (2016)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
Maya communities occupied and cultivated the tropical lowlands of Naachtun (Peten, Guatemala) for nearly a millennia (AD 150-950). Major goals of the Peten-Norte Naachtun project include understanding why the city was founded, the reasons for its development and why it was abandoned. Due to constraining environmental conditions (non-permanent water supply, shallow soils), the availability and management of water and soil resources in the city and around the bajo are closely tied to settlement...