Records of Ancient Human-Environmental Interaction from Mayan Southern Petén, Guatemala
Part 1:  A 1300-year record of human activity and climate change from Cancuén

Conclusions

A new sedimentary record from an infilling gully at Cancuén, in the Upper Pasión region of the Petén, Guatemala has preserved a dual history of environmental and archaeological change during the last 1300 years. Preliminary findings from this study suggest that relatively stable climatic conditions prevailed during the c. 200 year history of Maya Cancuén. There is some evidence that these centuries were significantly drier than present day climate. Towards the end of Cancuén in c. A.D. 800, a major fire took place, and although its ferocity is preserved in the gully sequence, it was probably not confined solely to this area, and may have damaged parts of the northeast of the city. Dating evidence suggests that this event may be contemporaneous with the final termination event in Cancuén's palace, and the rise of the city's last regime. Shortly afterwards, a massacre of up to 11 of Cancuén's elite, and then non-elite inhabitants occurred, with their remains being dumped (not buried) in the depression. Evidence from this sequence suggests that the final tumultuous years of Cancuén were also characterised by high rates of erosion and human activity in this part of the city.

A discontinuity in sedimentation, recorded soon after abandonment of the site, may reflect a peak in drought-like conditions operating in this region, which may coincide chronologically with the Maya Terminal Classic. At some stage in the last 1000 years, the onset of much wetter conditions began quite rapidly, and the nearby Pasión River began regularly flooding the small gully. The most recent of these flood deposits dates from the 20^th century.

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