Volcanism and the Ancient Maya. Reliance or Resilience?

Interdisciplinary team: Danielle McLean, Victoria Smith, Alex Geurds (School of Archaeology, University of Oxford), Ikuko Kitaba (Ritsumeikan Univeristy, Japan), José Luis Macias Vázquez (Instituto de Geofísica, National Autonomous University of Mexico), and the Fukui Prefectural Varve Museum (Japan). This work is in collaboration with the San Claudio Varves Project: https://www.maya-varves.com

Photo of varved lake sediments provided by the San Claudio Varves Project: https://www.maya-varves.com

The project will use newly discovered annually laminated (varved) lake sediments from the Yucatán Peninsula to unravel the multifaceted relationship between volcanism and the ancient Maya. It is evident that volcanic ash (tephra) frequently blanketed the Mayan Lowlands, but until now has only been recorded in patchy sedimentary records with limited chronology. This project will locate discrete microscopic ash layers (cryptotephra) within the lake sediments, meaning they can be used to determine the timing and frequency of eruptions (at an annual resolution) affecting key Mayan states for the first time. Moreover, utilising the climate indicators preserved within the sediments, we can also directly assess the climatic impact of large magnitude events.

We are excited to partner with the Fukui Prefectural Varve Museum on this new project (http://varve-museum.pref.fukui.lg.jp/en/)