Ref ID:	25202
Ref Type:	Book Section in a Series
Authors:	Cobos, Rafael Alanís, Guillermo de Anda Moll, Roberto García
Title:	Ancient Climate and Archaeology Uxmal, Chichén Itzá, and Their Collapse at the End of the Terminal Classic Period
Date:	2014
Source:	The Resilience and Vulnerability of Ancient Landscapes: Transforming Maya Archaeology through IHOPE
Publisher:	American Anthropological Association
Abstract:	Archaeological data and evidence of climatic change are used to suggest that the collapse of Uxmal and Chichén Itzá in the Northern Maya Lowlands was the result of long and recurrent drought episodes in the eleventh century. Although environmental evidence indicates that drought episodes might have begun in the ninth century, they gradually increased in frequency through the eleventh century and generated devastating effects on the late Terminal Classic period civilization. Evidence of recurrent drought episodes in the Northern lowlands is reported from the Holtún Cenote at Chichén Itzá. This cenote (sinkhole) shows two moments of the climatic change that affected Northern Yucatán. First, it corroborates the existence of extreme dry environmental conditions during the Terminal Classic period dated between the ninth and eleventh centuries. Second, after C.E. 1100, the water level rose inside the Holtún Cenote when environmental conditions turned wetter at the beginning of the Postclassic period.
Date Created:	8/6/2019
Editors:	Chase, Arlen F. Scarborough, Vernon L.
Number:	24
Page Start:	56
Page End:	71
Series Editor:	Goldstein, Lynne
Series Title:	Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association