Arising from the Bajos
The Evolution of a Neotropical Landscape and the Rise of Maya Civilization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8062866 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicholas P Dunning (0000-0002-1843-3088, corresponding author), Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach (0000-0002-9184-2427), Timothy Beach (0000-0003-0097-7973), John G Jones (0000-0001-8271-0038), Vernon L Scarborough (0000-0002-1246-7770), Vernon Scarborough, T Patrick Culbert |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 92 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 267-283 |
| Publication date | 2002-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annals of the Association of American Geographers (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0004-5608 • E-ISSN: 1467-8306 |
| Publisher | American Association of Geographers (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-8306.00290 |
| OpenAlex | W2143817276 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 96 |
| References cited | 11 |
The conjunctive use of paleoecological and archaeological data to document past human-environment relationships has become a theoretical imperative in the study of ancient cultures. Geographers are playing leading roles in this scholarly effort. Synthesizing both types of data, we argue that large karst depressions known as bajos in the Maya Lowlands region were anthropogenically transformed from perennial wetlands and shallow lakes to seasonal swamps between 400 bc and ad 250. This environmental transformation helps answer several questions that have long puzzled scholars of Maya civilization: (1) why many of the earliest Maya cities were built on the margins of bajos, (2) why some of these early centers were abandoned between 100 bc and ad 250, and (3) why other centers constructed elaborate water storage systems and survived into the Classic period (ad 250 –900). The transformation of the bajos represents one of the most significant and long-lasting anthropogenic environmental changes documented in the pre-Columbian New World
Archaeology · Art · Biology · Civilization · Geography · Karst · Maya · Period (music · Swamp · Wetland · Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Ecology · History
Geoarchaeology and Agroecosystems of the Booth’s River Depression
Climate, agriculture, and cycles of human occupation over the last 4000 yr in southern Zacatecas, Mexico
Holocene vegetation change in the northern Peten and its implications for Maya Prehistory
Architecture and the Origins of Preclassic Maya Politics
Chapter Three. Economic And Social Organization
Beach, Timothy
Agricultural Intensification in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin
Ancient lowland Maya complexity as revealed by airborne laser scanning of northern Guatemala
Ancient Maya impacts on the Earth's surface
Development and Disintegration of Maya Political Systems in Response to Climate Change
Kax and kol
Impacts of the ancient Maya on soils and soil erosion in the central Maya Lowlands
Quantification of soil erosion rates related to ancient Maya deforestation
Classic Period collapse of the Central Maya Lowlands
Cropscapes in the eye of the beholder
Water Chemistry Constraints And Possibilities For Ancient And Contemporary Maya Wetlands
Zooarchaeological Habitat Analysis Of Ancient Maya Landscape Changes
The intensification of pre-industrial cereal agriculture in the tropics
A Tale of Two Collapses
Ethnoecology of the Yucatec Maya
Human adaptation to climate change
New World States and Empires
The Impact of Microenvironments on Socioeconomic Organization in the Maya Lowlands
Under the Rule of the Snake Kings
Settlement Patterns and Built Environment at the Archaeological Site of Yalahau, Yucatan
Ancient Maya wetland management in two watersheds in Belize
A regional perspective on biotic change during the Classic Maya occupation using zooarchaeological isotopic chemistry
Phytoliths, stable carbon isotopes and micromorphology of a buried alluvial soil in Southern Mexico
Rate and process of societal change in semitropical settings
Geoarchaeological Investigations in Mesoamerica Move into the 21st Century
Catastrophic volcanism and its implication for agriculture in the Maya Lowlands
The lowland Maya settlement landscape
Detection of potential large Maya settlements in the northern Petén area (State of Campeche, Mexico) using optical and radar remote sensing
Human ecodynamics
Radiocarbon dates of burials from Ceibal and other Pasión Maya sites, Guatemala, and the examination of freshwater reservoir effect through diet reconstruction
Early construction at Nixtun-Ch'ich', Petén, Guatemala
Soil and slaughter
Boots on the Ground at Yaxnohcah
Combining Survey, Soil Coring, and GIS Methods to Improve Reservoir Capacity Estimates in the Maya Lowlands
What Maya Collapse? Terminal Classic Variation in the Maya Lowlands
New World States and Empires
Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 2)
Mayacene’ floodplain and wetland formation in the Rio Bravo Watershed of northwestern Belize
Geospatial analysis of pollen records from the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico
Ancient use and manipulation of landscape in the Yalahau region of the northern Maya lowlands
Stable carbon isotope signature of ancient maize agriculture in the soils of Motul de San José, Guatemala
Paleoecology and Geoarchaeology at El Palmar and the El Zotz Region, Guatemala
Paleoenvironment and Human Occupation in the M aya Lowlands of the U sumacinta R iver, S outhern M exico
Ancient Maya life in the Far West Bajo
The Nature and Origins of Linear Features in the Bajo de Azúcar, Guatemala
Soil properties and stable carbon isotope analysis of landscape features in the Petexbatún region of Guatemala
Soil resources of the Motul de San José Maya
Tikal timbers and temples
Environmental impacts of ancient copper mining and metallurgy
First archaeological identification of nixtamalized maize, from two pit latrines at the ancient Maya site of San Bartolo, Guatemala
An integrated socio-environmental approach to the study of ancient water systems
Identifying immigrants to Tikal, Guatemala
Ancient soil resources of the Usumacinta River Region, Guatemala
Interpreting δ 13 C Values Obtained on SOM from Ancient Maya Reservoirs and Depressions
Ancient Maya Agricultural Installations and the Development of Intensive Agriculture in NW Belize
Growth and decline of a sustainable city
A century and counting
Evidence for Forest Clearance, Agriculture, and Human-Induced Erosion in Precolumbian El Salvador
Modeling Settlement Patterns of the Late Classic Maya Civilization with Bayesian Methods and Geographic Information Systems
Arising from the Wetlands
Retrospective on Nature–Society Geography
Integration and disintegration at Minanha, a petty Maya kingdom in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize
Ancient Maya water management, agriculture, and society in the area of Chactún, Campeche, Mexico
Recentering the rural
The Late and Terminal Classic Ceramic Sequence at La Milpa, Belize
T. Patrick Culbert, 1930–2013
Rethinking the Great Earthwork of Tikal
Householders as Water Managers
Prehispanic Maya Burnt Lime Industries
Lowland Maya Genesis
Agrarian Features, Farmsteads, and Homesteads in the Río Bec Nuclear Zone, Mexico
Complexity and Sustainability
A Reassessment of Water and Soil Resources in the Flatlands of the Northern Maya Lowlands
The "Othering" of Maya Political Economies
The Alternative Economy
Comparative Landscape Analysis
Potential of Rainwater Harvesting in a Thirsty World
Upland Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands
Tropical wetland persistence through the Anthropocene
Archeological and environmental lessons for the Anthropocene from the Classic Maya collapse
Floodplain and Terrace Legacy Sediment as a Widespread Record of Anthropogenic Geomorphic Change
An Alternative Order
Ancient Settlement, Urban Gardening, and Environment in the Gulf Lowlands of Mexico
Settlement, Environment, and Politics in the San Bartolo-Xultun Territory, El Peten, Guatemala
Pre-Hispanic Maya fisheries and coastal adaptations in the northern lowlands from the Classic (500-900 AD) to Postclassic (900-1400 AD) periods
"Regroup On "E-Groups
Small Caves and Sacred Geography
Swidden Counts
Demographic and Landscape Change in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Mexico
"Introduction to "Landscapes over Time
Social Complexity and Social Inequality in the Prehistoric Mediterranean
Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Mayan Lowlands
Ecology in the Long View
Irrigation Horticulture in Highland Guatemala
Wetland Agriculture in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica
Soil Erosion, Slope Management, and Ancient Terracing in the Maya Lowlands
Water and Land at the Ancient Maya Community of La Milpa
Early Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands
Vestiges of Prehispanic, Sloping-Field Terraces on the Piedmont of Central Veracruz, Mexico
Temple mountains, sacred lakes, and fertile fields
| Unique citing works | 96 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,84 |
| Citation span | 2001 - 2026 (26) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 93 |