2025-08-13 ケンブリッジ大学
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/mexico-cave-maya-drought
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw7661
メキシコ・ユカタン半島北西部における古典期マヤ文明の複数年にわたる季節的干ばつへの対応 Classic Maya response to multiyear seasonal droughts in Northwest Yucatán, Mexico
Daniel H. James, Stacy A. Carolin, Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach, Julie A. Hoggarth, […] , and David A. Hodell
Science Advances Published:13 Aug 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw7661
Abstract
Protracted droughts may have contributed to sociopolitical upheaval and depopulation of cultural centers in the Maya Lowlands during the Terminal Classic Period (~800 to 1000 CE). Regional proxy climate records suggest multiple prolonged drought episodes during the Terminal Classic. The relationship between drought and response of individual sites, however, remains unclear because of large chronological uncertainties and poor temporal resolution of existing local paleoclimate inferences. We present a subannual rainfall record from northwest Yucatán, Mexico, derived from an annually laminated stalagmite spanning 871 to 1021 CE, with ±6-year age uncertainty. Interpretation of the stalagmite oxygen isotope record is supported by modern rain and drip water monitoring. Precisely dated droughts enable detailed analyses of timing and dynamics of regional human-climate interactions. Despite uncertainties in archaeological chronologies, these results suggest political activity at major northern Maya sites, including Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, declined at different times relative to droughts, implying differential cultural responses to climate stress.
