Dr David L. Lentz - Tikal: Paleoecology of an Ancient Maya City

The primary theoretical question addressed in this book focuses on the lingering concern of how the ancient Maya in the northern Petn Basin were able to sustain large populations in the midst of a tropical forest environment during the Late Classic period. This book asks how agricultural intensification was achieved and how essential resources, such as water and forest products, were managed in both upland areas and seasonal wetlands, or bajos . All of these activities were essential components of an initially sustainable land use strategy that eventually failed to meet the demands of an escalating population. This spiraling disconnection with sound ecological principles undoubtedly contributed to the Maya collapse. The books findings provide insights that broaden the understanding of the rise of social complexity the expansion of the political economy, specifically and, in general terms, the trajectory of cultural evolution of the ancient Maya civilization.

DAVID L. LENTZ is Professor of Biological Sciences and Executive Director of the Center for Field Studies at the University of Cincinnati. He has authored more than ninety publications that have appeared as journal articles, book chapters, and three books, including this volume. His research focuses on anthropogenic landscape changes of the past and paleoethnobotanical studies in Mesoamerica, Central Asia, and North America.

NICHOLAS P. DUNNING is Professor of Geography at the University of Cincinnati. He is a geoarchaeologist and cultural ecologist specializing in the Neotropics. He has published several books and more than ninety articles and book chapters, including those in this volume.

VERNON L. SCARBOROUGH is Distinguished University Research Professor and Charles Phelps Taft Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati. His work emphasizes sustainability and global water systems through an examination of past engineered landscapes, using comparative ecological and transdisciplinary perspectives. He has published ten books eight of them edited, including this volume and authored more than ninety book chapters or journal articles.