Social Dynamics: Classic to Postclassic in the Río Champotón Drainage
The results of this research suggest local dynamics in the Río Champotón drainage were embedded in larger-scale geopolitical developments that would eventually culminate in the collapse and abandonment of large inland city-states in the Southern Maya Lowlands and the emergence of new centers of power in the Northern Maya Lowlands. Although there is strong evidence that climatic change and increasing frequency of droughts could have played a role in the depopulation of the interior regions of the Maya Lowlands, the loss of resilience of the latter societies to environmental perturbation had roots in earlier processes and dynamics. The results of this dissertation indicate that the high degree of resilience among communities in the Río Champotón drainage during this period of turmoil was due to several key factors: an ecological setting that facilitated relatively rapid transformation in food production strategies in the face of climatic instability; the strategic location along the Gulf Coast maritime trade route that would become the dominant trade thoroughfare by the end of the Classic Period; and the successful political reorientation among states in the region from peripheral participation in inland-focused Petén-centric spheres to the emergent international systems of the Postclassic Period.
NOTE: below copied from intro results page
During the period that witnessed the collapse and abandonment of large inland city-states in the Southern Maya Lowlands, the high degree of resilience among communities in the Río Champotón drainage during this period of turmoil was due to several key factors: an ecological setting that facilitated relatively rapid transformation in food production strategies in the face of climatic instability; the strategic location along the Gulf Coast maritime trade route that would become the dominant trade thoroughfare by the end of the Classic Period; and the successful political reorientation among states in the region from peripheral participation in inland-focused Petén-centric spheres to the emergent international systems of the Postclassic Period.
NOTE: below copied from intro results page
During the period that witnessed the collapse and abandonment of large inland city-states in the Southern Maya Lowlands, the high degree of resilience among communities in the Río Champotón drainage during this period of turmoil was due to several key factors: an ecological setting that facilitated relatively rapid transformation in food production strategies in the face of climatic instability; the strategic location along the Gulf Coast maritime trade route that would become the dominant trade thoroughfare by the end of the Classic Period; and the successful political reorientation among states in the region from peripheral participation in inland-focused Petén-centric spheres to the emergent international systems of the Postclassic Period.