Data & Modelling

The project will bring together a transdisciplinary team of natural and social scientists from the U.S., Mexico, Scotland, Canada, and France to address one of the most compelling questions in archaeology: Was the Classic-period collapse in Mesoamerica caused by environmental change? This period of dramatic social change occurred at approximately 800 CE and involved the collapse of rulers and ruling institutions as well as the depopulation of cities and, in some cases, entire regions. For decades, archaeologists and paleoecologists have debated the role of environmental change in the collapse, but have had difficulty in establishing causal connections between environmental and social change. Prior research on the Classic-period collapse has tended to focus on particular sites or small regions. This study in contrast focuses on two interrelated, but contrasting ecological regions: the lower Río Verde Valley in the semi-tropical lowlands and the Nochixtlán Valley in the temperate highlands. This innovative comparative approach to collapse allows for the examination of the human and natural components of the socio-environmental system and their interrelationships that promote or inhibit resilience and vulnerabilities to collapse in the two regions. The results of our research will also provide a long-term perspective on current and future problems facing humanity by contributing to models of long-term climate change and human impact on the environment with implications for future land use planning and resource management.

Funded by: US National Science Foundation

First published: 11 October 2023