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. |
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Términos y frases comunes
adapted aerosols agricultural archaeologists Arctic areas atmosphere bifurcation Broecker catastrophic cause cenotes central century changes Chichén Itza Chichón circulation cities civilization Classic Maya climate Cobá cold Collapse complexity conveyor belt cooling Copán crop Crumley culture dates death deep water demographic developed disease dissipative structures drought ecotone effects El Chichón energy flow environment Europe evolution example external shocks factors famine Figure Folan global Gunn Hadley cell heterarchy hierarchy human Ice Age increase indicate interaction Lake latitude Leslie White magma major Maya civilization Maya Lowlands Mayapán Mérida Mesoamerica Mexico North Atlantic High Northern Hemisphere occurred Ocean organization pattern peasants percent period Petén Popocatépetl population Postclassic precipitation Prigogine processes produce proposed Puuc radiocarbon radiocarbon dates rain rainfall record region reservoirs result role Seavoy seen self-organization severe drought shift social society Sorokin starvation stratosphere sulfur surface temperatures theory Tikal tion tropical uniformitarian Uxmal weather Yucatán Peninsula