Climate Change, Dissonance and Urban Diaspora in the Southern Maya Lowlands

Summary

In response to growing needs for dry-season water, the southern lowland Maya constructed increasingly larger and more complex reservoirs at major centers throughout the Late Classic period (550-850 C.E.). Annual rainfall replenished reservoirs and nourished rainfall-dependent crops. In exchange for access to reservoirs during the annual dry season, farmers contributed goods, services and labor to kings and their administrators. When several multiyear droughts struck between 800 and 900 C.E., the effect on reservoirs was noticeable, impacting the basis of royal power. This set in motion a series of events that ultimately resulted in an urban diaspora where farmers abandoned kings and centers for areas with more reliable sources of water and new economic opportunities. Maya kings did not adapt, whereas farmers did. I discuss how the same material infrastructure impacted kings and farmers differently, and how this dissonance bears on present concerns relating to climate change.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Difference in Archaeological Theory and Practise

Keywords

Spatial Coverage