Jh. Curtis et al., CLIMATE VARIABILITY ON THE YUCATAN PENINSULA (MEXICO) DURING THE PAST3500 YEARS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MAYA CULTURAL-EVOLUTION, Quaternary research, 46(1), 1996, pp. 37-47
Climate variability on the Yucatan Peninsula during the past 3500 yrs
is reconstructed from the measurement of delta(18)O in monospecific os
tracods and gastropods in a 6.3-m sediment core from Lake Punta Laguna
, Mexico. This late Holocene record is divided into three periods base
d on changes in mean delta(18)O values. From similar to 3310 to simila
r to 1785 C-14 yr B.P. (Period I), low mean delta(18)O values indicate
relatively wet conditions (i.e., low evaporation to precipitation rat
io, E/P). Mean oxygen isotopic values increased similar to 1785 C-14 y
r B.P., and the interval between similar to 1785 and similar to 930 C-
14 Yr B.P. (Period II) was distinctly drier than the periods before or
after. The climate during the latter part of Period II was persistent
ly dry, with exceptionally arid events centered at similar to 1171, 10
19, and 943 C-14 Yr B.P. (equivalent to 862, 986, and 1051 A.D.). This
interval of frequent drought was recorded at several other localities
in Mexico and Central America, and coincided with the collapse of Cla
ssic Maya civilization. Following the last arid event, delta(18)O valu
es decreased abruptly at similar to 930 C-14 Yr B.P. (beginning of Per
iod III), signaling a return to wetter conditions that have generally
prevailed to the present, with the exception of a dry episode centered
at 559 C-14 yr B.P. (1398 A.D.). The paleoclimatic record from Punta
Laguna provides evidence that multi-decadal and millennial-scale chang
es in E/P occurred on the Yucatan Peninsula during the late Holocene.
These wet/dry episodes may have influenced cultural evolution in Mesoa
merica. (C) 1995 University of Washington.