Reconsidering the Terminal Classic in the Northern Lowlands – A Boom or the Start of a Bust?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

After many sites in the Southern Maya Lowlands were abandoned during the major societal transformation known as the “Maya Collapse,” settlements in the North grew markedly in size. In the Cochuah region of the Yucatan peninsula, and elsewhere, some of the largest architecture ever built was constructed. More residences than had been seen before, or since, covered prior occupations and extended across terrain that, at most, had previously only been used periodically for swidden farming. While estimating population counts is problematic, artifact counts and densities similarly reflect this population “boom,” long described as a cultural florescence, that was eventually followed by a seemingly puzzling crash of the Postclassic. Reconsidering these major demographic shifts in light of current migrations taking place around the world, it makes sense to not necessarily think about the Terminal Classic as a time when sites in the north thrived, but instead of as a period when society was likely strained by large numbers of people arriving from the south into a drier territory undergoing significant periodic droughts. As with refugees today, there were likely varied responses to the new arrivals.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37915.0