Ecological Dynamics: Classic to Postclassic in the Río Champotón Drainage
Changing Urban Traditions. A comparison between the Late Classic urban center of Ulumal (bottom right) and the Postclassic center of El Zapote (top left). The dispersed, low-density settlement pattern of Ulumal contrasts with the nucleated center of El Zapote, which was bounded by a wall and focused on a defensible hilltop, which would have afforded a commanding view of the river.
In the ecological domain, changes in settlement patterns between the Late Classic, Terminal Classic, and Postclassic Periods were part of a fundamental reorganization in the ways that societies interacted with the environment. Large low-density Late Classic centers were consistently located near ecotones between hilly uplands and the Río Champotón alluvial plain, facilitating exploitation of diverse agricultural resources and mitigation of risks due to unpredictable rainfall. This set of coupled socio-ecological dynamics – termed the Low-Density Urban Rainfall Agriculture (LURA) regime – is very similar to contemporary low-density urban societies in the interior zones of the Maya Lowlands.
By the end of the Late Classic Period settlements concentrated in large inland centers fell into decline, with a movement of populations to dispersed communities along the coastal margin. This was part of a new set of human environmental dynamics focused on exploitation of highly productive fisheries in marine and estuary ecozones. This emergent set of human-environmental interactions is termed the Dispersed Coastal Marine (DCM) regime.
In the Postclassic Period, there was a second demographic shift back to a more concentrated settlement pattern, with populations increasingly focused within nucleated urban center, including the expanding city of Champotón (Chakanputun). This Postclassic socio-ecological regime – termed the Regional Intensive Diversified (RID) regime – included integration between more specialized communities in diverse ecological zones, with coastal fishing complemented by intensive inland agriculture.
By the end of the Late Classic Period settlements concentrated in large inland centers fell into decline, with a movement of populations to dispersed communities along the coastal margin. This was part of a new set of human environmental dynamics focused on exploitation of highly productive fisheries in marine and estuary ecozones. This emergent set of human-environmental interactions is termed the Dispersed Coastal Marine (DCM) regime.
In the Postclassic Period, there was a second demographic shift back to a more concentrated settlement pattern, with populations increasingly focused within nucleated urban center, including the expanding city of Champotón (Chakanputun). This Postclassic socio-ecological regime – termed the Regional Intensive Diversified (RID) regime – included integration between more specialized communities in diverse ecological zones, with coastal fishing complemented by intensive inland agriculture.