A Satellite-Based Perspective on Ancient Climate in Tropical and Desert Regions

Summary

This research documents the effects of human activity upon tropical forests and desert landscapes. The investigation uses both satellite and airborne imagery to understand the dynamics of human adaptation and interaction upon these landscapes, and the role of natural and human-induced past and present changes to climate variability. These two subjects are highly interrelated since human-induced landscape changes can have strong impacts on climate, while natural climate variability can in turn exert strong pressures on the landscape, potentially exacerbating human-induced effects. Special emphasis will be placed upon the Maya lowlands of northern Guatemala and Belize, areas that are threatened by current deforestation and land use changes. It was in this region that the ancient Maya civilization began, flourished, and abruptly disappeared beginning around AD 800. Preliminary research suggests that the destruction of the landscape by human activity contributed to this collapse. These satellite-based techniques are also being applied to the northern desert of Peru.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Digital Analysis of the Natural and Cultural Interface

Keywords

Spatial Coverage