| Description |
1 online resource (305 p.) |
| Series |
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Premodern Societies and Environments Ser |
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Interdisciplinary Approaches to Premodern Societies and Environments Ser
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| Contents |
Cover -- Half Title -- Series -- The Maya and Climate Change -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Shifting the Focus -- A Long-Standing Fascination with Collapse -- A Brief Introduction to Maya History and Culture -- Shifting the Focus -- The Maya Environmental Mosaic -- Book Overview -- 2. From Camera Lucida to Lidar: A Brief History of Maya Archaeology -- The Maya Enigma -- Thinking About Maya Human-Environment Relationships -- The Early Explorers -- Early Frameworks for the Decline of Classic Maya Civilization |
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Settlement Patterns and Human-Environment Relationships -- The Managed Mosaic -- Resilience Theory -- Recent Developments in Technology and Methodology -- Reconstructing the Precipitation Record -- Lake Cores -- Speleothems -- Reconstructing Forest Management and Agricultural Practices -- Microbotanical Analyses -- Macrobotanical Analyses -- Landscape Analyses -- Isotopic Analyses -- Ethnohistoric and Ethnographic Evidence -- Reconstructing Ancient Stone-Processing Techniques -- The Lidar Revolution -- 3. Forests -- Introduction -- Maya Conceptions of "Forest" -- Maya Forests |
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The Bounty of the Forest -- Archaic and Preclassic Period Agroforestry -- Classic Maya Forest Management -- Ethnographic Insights -- Tending the Forests -- Land Ownership -- Agroforestry at Tikal -- Apiculture -- Summary -- 4. Fields -- Introduction -- Crops -- The Three Sisters -- Tree Crops -- Additional Crops -- The Earliest Maya Farmers -- Classic Period Agriculture -- Social Organization -- A Mosaic of Agricultural Practices -- Homegardens, Infields, and Orchards -- Milpa Fields -- Polyculture and Multi-Cropping -- Agricultural Terracing -- Wetland Agriculture -- Rejolladas -- Bajo Margins |
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Additional Intensification Practices -- Ceren -- Summary -- 5. Water -- Introduction -- The Natural Hydrologic Setting -- The Importance of Water -- Physical Water Necessities -- Ideological Significance -- The Preclassic to Early Classic Period Transition -- Classic Period Reservoirs -- Tikal's Centralized Water System -- Caracol: Reservoirs and Terraces Everywhere -- Copan: Neighborhood Reservoirs -- The Canals of Edzna -- Smaller Scale Water-Management Features -- Palenque: "Big Water" -- The North -- High and Dry in the Hill Country -- Summary -- 6. Stone -- Introduction |
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Limestone and Lime -- Upon a Limestone Foundation -- Lime in Classic Maya Culture -- Architectural Lime -- Dietary and Other Uses of Lime -- Pre-Colonial Lime Production -- The Earliest Lime -- The "Traditional" Method -- Preclassic Deforestation -- Classic Period Lime Production -- Environmental Knowledge and Sustainability -- The Importance of Salt -- Salt Production and Environmental Issues -- The Belizean Coast -- Salinas de los Nueve Cerros -- Summary -- 7. Collapse and Resilience -- Introduction -- Issues with Collapse -- Chronology -- Geography -- Scale -- Causality |
| Summary |
One of the most well-known things about the Classic Maya civilization is that it collapsed, which leads to many questions about what happened. Geared toward a general audience, this book argues that Classic Maya civilization did not in fact collapse in the literal sense of the word. Instead, it shifts the focus to the 700-plus years of societal growth and environmental conservation that preceded the transformation of Maya civilization about 1,000 years ago. Drawing on archaeological, environmental, and historical evidence, it explores the many ways that Maya communities addressed the challenge |
| Notes |
Description based upon print version of record |
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Climatic Instability: Water Issues |
| Subject |
Mayas -- History -- To 1500
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Human ecology -- Central America -- History
|
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Mayas -- Civilization
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Climatic changes -- Central America -- History
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Human beings -- Effect of climate on -- Central America
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Climatic changes
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Human beings -- Effect of climate on
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Mayas
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History of the Americas.
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History.
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Central America
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780197652947 |
|
0197652948 |
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