A 5,000-Year History of Landscape Evolution in the Rio Blanco Valley of Uxbenká, Belize
Author(s): Marina Lemly; Keith Prufer
Year: 2021
Summary
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
Archaic people and Classic Period Maya played important roles in shaping their environments. Through early deforestation and later agricultural erosion humans have modified the world they lived in. This study aims to show the role the Maya had in the environmental change in their region. We report results of analysis of a 5,500-year-long profiles soil from over bank deposits along the Rio Blanco in Belize. We present the results from loss of ignition and δ13C and δ18O isotope analysis indicating gradual but steady human impacts on the landscape prior to the establishment of the Classic Period polity and then accelerated impacts due to erosion associated with increasing agriculture after 100 CE.
Cite this Record
A 5,000-Year History of Landscape Evolution in the Rio Blanco Valley of Uxbenká, Belize. Marina Lemly, Keith Prufer. Presented at The 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2021 ( tDAR id: 467649)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Environment and Climate
•
Geoarchaeology
•
Maya: Classic
•
Stable Isotopes
Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica: Maya lowlands
Spatial Coverage
min long: -94.197; min lat: 16.004 ; max long: -86.682; max lat: 21.984 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 33133