The Emergence of Ecological Knowledge in the Ancient Maya Yalahau

Summary

This paper explores how the ancient Maya of the Yalahau region generated and used ecological knowledge of their unique wetland environment in the Preclassic period. We approach ecological knowledge generation as a process that arises within the context of observable seasonal environmental events and changing and evolving pragmatic goals. Using paleoenvironmental reconstructions, we isolate the key seasonal events that would parametrically structure how environmental capacities could be apprehended and understood for agricultural use. We then analyze how these capacities would have changed within the context of ancient Maya social and ecological tendencies that affect the ecological environment as well as the development of Maya society within the context of these wetland landscapes. When viewed as a dynamic feedback loop, the interplay of environmental and social capacities and tendencies acted to continually shape and transform ecological knowledge in the Yalahau.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

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