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This is a preview. Log in to get access Abstract Recent paleoecological research indicates that the collapse of Classic Maya civilization in the southern and central Maya Lowlands coincided with the onset of prolonged and severe drought conditions around A.D. 850. The northern Maya Lowlands is an area that receives much less rainfall today and probably did so throughout most of the recent past; nevertheless, many northern lowland sites not only persisted throughout the period of the drought but actually prospered under the hegemony of Chichen Itza. This paper attempts to resolve this obvious paradox by examining the adaptive responses made by the northern Maya. The northern lowlands had a slight edge in adapting to the climate change that apparently devastated the south because it had easy access to a diversity of resources that no doubt contributed to Chichen Itza's subsistence security and the enrichment of its realm. However, massive transformations in the political and religious domains were every bit as necessary to Chichen Itza's adaptive strategy. The seeming paradox of Chichen Itza's successful adaptation to environmental adversity represents a cautionary tale about the dangers of oversimplification that are inherent in environmental deterministic thinking. Paradoxes of this kind arise when the primacy of cultural factors in adaptive processes is ignored. Evidencia paleoecologica reciente indica que el colapso de la civilización clásica maya en las tierras bajas del sur y del centro coincidió con el principio de una prolangada y severa sequía alrededor de 850 d.C. Sin embargo, varios de los sitios de las tierras bajas mayas continuaban en una zona que recibe menos lluvia hoy en día y probablemente también durante la mayor parte del pasado reciente. Este artículo procura resolver esta paradoja examinando las respuestas de adaptación emprendidas por los mayas del norte. Las tierras bajas del norte tuvieron una leve ventaja en la adaptación al cambio climatico, que aparentemente devastó la region sur, por tener facil acceso a una diversidad de recursos que sin duda alguna contribuyó a asegurar la subsistencia y facilitó el enrequecimiento de la región dominada por Chichén Itzá. Sin embargo, imponentes transformaciones políticas y religiosas fueron igualmente necesarias para la estrategia de adaptación de Chichén Itzá. La aparente paradoja de la acertada adaptación a la adversidad ambiental por parte de Chichén Itzá nos invita a la cautela y ilustra los peligros de la simplificación extrema inherentes el pensamiento del deterministismo ambiental. Paradojas de este tipo surgen cuando la importancia primaria de los factores culturales es ignorada. Journal Information Ancient Mesoamerica is the international forum for the method, theory, substance and interpretation of Mesoamerican archaeology, art history and ethnohistory. The journal publishes papers chiefly concerned with the Pre-Columbian archaeology of the Mesoamerican region, but also features articles from other disciplines including ethnohistory, historical archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. Topics covered include the origins of agriculture, the economic base of city states and empires, political organisation from the Formative through the Early Colonial periods, the development and function of early writing, and the use of iconography to reconstruct ancient religious beliefs and practices. Publisher Information Cambridge University Press (www.cambridge.org) is the publishing division of the University of Cambridge, one of the world’s leading research institutions and winner of 81 Nobel Prizes. Cambridge University Press is committed by its charter to disseminate knowledge as widely as possible across the globe. It publishes over 2,500 books a year for distribution in more than 200 countries. Cambridge Journals publishes over 250 peer-reviewed academic journals across a wide range of subject areas, in print and online. Many of these journals are the leading academic publications in their fields and together they form one of the most valuable and comprehensive bodies of research available today. For more information, visit http://journals.cambridge.org. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Which of the following inhibited the Maya from developing a centralized state similar to that in Han China?Which of the following inhibited the Mayans from developing a centralized state similar to that in Han China? The Mayans settled in a region that was hot and infertile, lacked navigable river systems, and was vulnerable to hurricanes.
What was characteristic of Maya cities quizlet?The main features of Maya cities were their pyramids, temples, and palaces.
What were the four main classes of early Maya society quizlet?What were the 4 main classes of early Maya society? The top was the king, then priest and warriors, then merchant and craftspeople, then lastly farmers and (very bottom) slaves.
Which of the following statements concerning Buddhism in the third and fourth centuries is accurate?Which of the following statements concerning Buddhism in the third and fourth centuries CE is accurate? Buddhism had already been widely adopted and would now develop its Chinese forms without continued influence from South Asia.
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Which of the following inhibited the mayans from developing a great metropolis?
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