A system of canals 2 millennia old sustained a local population after the collapse of its neighbors, and it continues to affect local ecology today.
Maya
Posted inNews
Severe Cyclones May Have Played a Role in the Maya Collapse
Sediment cores from the Great Blue Hole reveal that a series of extreme storms hit the region after 900. The storms may have irreparably damaged an already stressed Maya population.
Posted inNews
Ancient Maya Farms Revealed by Laser Scanning
One agricultural network was 5 times larger than earlier estimates, and the fields may be an early source of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
Posted inNews
Eruption in El Salvador Was One of the Holocene’s Largest
Roughly 1,500 years ago, the Tierra Blanca Joven eruption blanketed Central America in ash and likely displaced Maya settlements, new research shows.
Posted inNews
Lidar Uncovers Thousands of New Maya Structures
Jungle-piercing lidar surveys over ancient Maya sites give scientists the most extensive maps of lowland Maya civilization to date.
Posted inNews
Severe Drought May Have Helped Hasten Ancient Maya’s Collapse
Chemical signatures from sediments in lake cores reveal that the centuries-long drought during the fall of Classic Maya civilization was worse than researchers had imagined.
Posted inNews
Ancient Maya May Have Foreseen Meteor Showers
Modern astronomical techniques have uncovered clues to a possible facet of Mayan astronomy from nearly 2 millennia ago not found in surviving records.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Dearth of Hurricanes Cannot Explain Maya Collapse
Mud layers in a stalagmite from a cave on the Yucatán Peninsula show hurricane activity was steady or elevated throughout the Maya collapse.