Those Flowering Waters: Reconstructing 1,200 Years of Human Adaptation to Hydroclimatic Changes in Central Nicaragua

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Central Nicaragua is highly susceptible to hydroclimatic variations, which are affecting the subsistence economies of local populations. To what extent hydroclimatic changes impact prehispanic adaptation strategies in the Mayales River Valley (MRV)? This presentation will show the final result of the Interdisciplinary Archaeological Project Finca Santa Matilda (PRISMA), which integrates the geoarchaeological analysis of Roberto Amador site (RA: AD 900–1250) and the multiproxy palynological analysis of a 1,200 yr core from El Tigre-Asososca lake (León). Prehispanic human responses to the incidence of inundations is evidenced in RA by a strategic use of the site landscape and differentiated use of alluvial terraces. The inundation that affected the site around AD 1250 ultimately likely led to its abandonment and unveils how the human communities living in the MRV used adaptive settlement strategies to relocate when exposed to major fluvial changes. By comparing the archaeological data from RA to the paleoclimatic record produced by the authors, it is possible to correlate this inundation to regional hydroclimatic developments. This study shows that human communities of the MRV had a constant and dynamic relationship with the fluvial environment of the valley, unveiling how rivers are active forces that intimately shape human societies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39901.0