Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archaeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa-Ancón, Republic of Panama.
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Apr 7;15(4):e0230892. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230892. eCollection 2020.
It is well known that the development of the ancient Maya civilization had significant and long-lasting impacts on the environment. This study assesses a large collection of faunal remains (>35,000 specimens) recovered over a span of several kilometers in and around the archaeological site of Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to determine whether the composition of animal resources was continuous throughout the site's history between 1000 BC and AD 1200, or whether there were any changes that could be attributed to sociopolitical or environmental causes. Results show a steep uniform decline in the number of freshwater mollusks across the site that occurred during the Preclassic to Classic transition, when large region-wide political changes, including the development of more complex and centralized political organization, took place throughout the Maya region. Evidence of species introductions (e.g., turkeys from central Mexico and possibly the Dermatemys river turtle from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) and variations in resource exchange (e.g. marine shells) over time indicate that Ceibal was one of likely many communities involved in long-distance animal exchange networks. The results of the faunal analysis at Ceibal show how the ancient Maya had a complex and ever-changing relationship with the local wildlife, with outcomes that can still be observed in the environment today.
众所周知，古玛雅文明的发展对环境产生了重大而持久的影响。本研究评估了在危地马拉的 Ceibal 考古遗址及其周围数公里范围内收集的大量动物遗骸（>35,000 个标本），以确定动物资源的组成在公元前 1000 年至公元 1200 年之间的整个遗址历史上是否连续，或者是否有任何可以归因于社会政治或环境原因的变化。结果表明，在古经典到经典的过渡时期，整个遗址的淡水贝类数量急剧下降，这一时期发生了包括更复杂和集中的政治组织发展在内的大型地区性政治变革。物种引进的证据（例如，来自墨西哥中部的火鸡和可能来自特万特佩克地峡的 Dermatemys 河龟）以及资源交换的变化（例如，海洋贝壳）表明，Ceibal 是可能参与长途动物交换网络的众多社区之一。Ceibal 的动物群分析结果表明，古玛雅人与当地野生动物之间有着复杂且不断变化的关系，其结果在今天的环境中仍然可以观察到。
