The Great Maya Droughts: Water, Life, and DeathUniversity of New Mexico Press, 2000 - 464 páginas The innovative study argues that he collapse of Classic Maya civilization was driven by catastrophic drought. Between A.D. 800 and 1000, unrelenting drought killed millions of Maya people with famine and thirst and initiated a cascade of internal collapses that destroyed their civilization. Linking global, regional, and local climate change, the author explores how atmospheric processes, volcanism, ocean currents, and other natural forces combined to create the dry climate that pried apart the highly complex civilization in the tropical Maya Lowlands in the ninth and tenth centuries. Drawing on knowledge of other prehistoric and historic droughts, The Great Maya Droughts is a useful study of the relationship of humans to their natural and physical environment. The author tries to understand why the Classic Maya failed to adjust their behavior and culture to the climatic conditions and why civilizations in general sometimes collapse in the face of radical environmental change. |
Índice
LIST OF FIGURES 1 CLIMATE AND CATASTROPHE | 1 |
The Ecotones Shifting Range in Europe | 19 |
Ecotones in the Maya Lowlands | 23 |
Página de créditos | |
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abandoned adapted aerosols agricultural Ahau archaeological Arctic areas Atitlán atmosphere Broecker catastrophic cause cenote central century changes Chichén Itza Chilam Balam circulation cities Classic Maya climate coast Cobá Collapse complexity conveyor belt cooling Copán crop Crumley culture dates death deep water demographic drought ecotone effects El Chichón energy environment Europe evidence Figure flow Folan global Hadley cell heterarchy hierarchy human Ice Age increased indicate interaction lake Lake Chichancanab latitude Leslie White magma major Maya Lowlands Mayapán Mérida Mesoamerica Mexico North Atlantic High Northern Hemisphere occurred Ocean organization pattern peasants percent period Petén Popocatépetl population Postclassic precipitation Preclassic Prigogine produce proposed Puuc radiocarbon radiocarbon dates rain rainfall Rampino record region reservoirs result role Seavoy seen self-organization severe drought social society starvation stratosphere structure sulfur surface temperatures theory Tikal tion Toltec tree ring tropical Uxmal volcanic eruptions warm weather Yucatán Peninsula