[Aztlan] Amount of deforestation in late classical maya time question ..and was the maya vegetarians?

[Sven Röhrig]

Hello,

2 related questions in one mail to save some bandwidth...



1) Amount of deforestation in late classical maya time?

I ve read here on the list that new satelite besed methods have given  
new insights in the amount of deforestation back in the late classical  
maya time.

Are this insights so precise that one can tell which parts of the  
jungel was deforestated in the past and which not?
Are there any grafics available that show such classical defrestation  
especialy around the area of known maya sites?
Or can anybody, that has a better idea about the item than me,  can  
give me a  picture to visualise it?
(No forrest up to the horizant line for example? or distant travel  
necessary to see some djungel wildlife?)

Was there forrest around the citys or was it a kind of journey to see  
some dense djungel?
Was the deforestation going hand in hand with the development of new  
farmland around the citys or was there rather  wood organized from  
bigger distance keeping some wildlife around the citys??



2) Mayas Vegetarians?

Probably not as a belife concept, or is ther any mythology known that  
bannes or critizises  the consumption of meat somehow?..
Was meat consumption an elite thing only?
Are there indicators that parts of the population lived on a vegi diet  
only or just had meat very rarely?

Or was there local differences between maya states?

I learned here that modern methods allow to determine the diet of  
ancient people by bone analysis..
Are there any infos based on such methods about the maya culture?

I wonder which part meat had in the diet of maya people..
Especially in conjunction with social rank and ongoing deforestation..



Was there hints or proove found that there was mass animal breading  
for meat supply practised or was it a direct hunted only product?

Animal breeding is a quite old concept..In case there are hints that  
indicate that the maya did it aswell..
Which animals might have been  choosen for that purpose by the maya?   
pecarys? fish in the water reservoirs?
any other ideas? or info/hints  that point in a agri cultur only  
direction?




Again any info or literatur tip,  in or off list, is highly apreciated..

thanks,
Sven