Modelling Resilience: Zooarchaeological Insights into Subsistence Diversity and Land Use Practices of the Ancient Maya in the Upper Belize River Valley

Many models have been proposed to explain the disintegration of Classic Maya polities including those based on climate change, inter-site competition, warfare, and environmental degradation. It is now clear, however, that multiple simultaneous factors were involved, and the combination of factors varied from one region of the Maya Lowlands to another during the Late to Terminal Classic periods (AD 750-900/1000). As such, each region must be examined individually to understand the processes that contributed to depopulation to explain why some regions were more resilient than others. In the upper Belize River Valley in the eastern Maya Lowlands, a series of droughts during the Terminal Classic has been attributed as one factor underlying the abandonment of centers. Using Hill diversity metrics (richness, Shannon diversity, and Simpson diversity) as measurements of diet diversity, our study analyzes Preclassic (1100/1000 BC-AD 300) and Late/Terminal Classic fauna from the sites of Baking Pot, Cahal Pech, Lower Dover, and Xunantunich to test models of environmental degradation and the adaptive cycle. The results show that the ancient Maya of the region responded to climate stresses through environmental resource management. Any rigidity in dietary preferences was mitigated by exploiting a broad spectrum of animal and plant resources.