Maya Postclassic persistence in the Birds of Paradise Wetland Fields, Belize.
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Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41770914.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1073/pnas.2521892123 and PMC identifier 12974463.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Rapid decay of organic artifacts obscures our view of ancient tropical settlements. We present a study of architecture and artifact assemblages from an ancient settlement excavated at the Birds of Paradise (BOP) fields, the largest lidar and field-validated ancient Maya wetland field complex. The site's unique setting preserved architectural wood and provides exceptional evidence of Maya Terminal Classic (CE 800 to 1000) to Postclassic (CE 1000 to 1500) persistence within tropical wetlands through periods of large-scale societal and climate change. A new Bayesian chronological model tightens the occupation history for the broader BOP wetlands based on 14 new radiocarbon dates of wood and charcoal from this settlement. These wetlands and their preserved ancient wood face imminent destruction through modern land uses.
Medical subject headings
- Wetlands
- Birds