Paleoenvironmental Studies at the Ancient Maya Center of Yaxnohcah based on Analyses of eDNA, Pollen, and Plant Macroremains

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New and Emerging Perspectives on the Bajo el Laberinto Region of the Maya Lowlands, Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Yaxnohcah was a major civic-ceremonial center of the ancient Maya world, especially during the Preclassic period (1000 BCE–200 CE). Environmental data from excavations provided important insights into the interaction between the ancient inhabitants of the polity and the surrounding Neotropical forest, a subject area that previously has been poorly understood. Our research aimed to fill that knowledge void by employing traditional paleoethnobotanical approaches combined with a useful new technology, the analysis of environmental DNA. The results enabled us to characterize the vegetation associated with the principal structures and the artificial reservoirs that provided the city’s water supply. Because the area is without access to permanent water sources, such as rivers or lakes, these reservoirs were key to the development and survival of the city. Our findings indicated that although there were large areas cleared for agricultural purposes, large patches of mature upland and bajo forest remained intact throughout the Maya occupation. In addition, our studies revealed that there were incursions of pine savanna into the area that may have been a reflection of prevailing edaphic conditions, or alternatively, the result of frequent burning.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New and Emerging Perspectives on the Bajo el Laberinto Region of the Maya Lowlands, Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39561.0