Speleothem based quantification of precipitation and aridity and its role for Maya cultural development on the northern Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

基于洞穴的降水和干旱量化及其对墨西哥尤卡坦半岛北部玛雅文化发展的作用

• 批准号: 497323584
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Norbert Frank
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Umweltphysik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/497323584?language=en
• 关键词: Speleothem; based; quantification; precipitation; aridity

The varied cultural evolution and final collapse of Maya civilization in Mesoamerica are heavily debated issues and discussions include the impact of both natural (e.g. droughts, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions), and social disasters (e.g. warfare and unsustainable economy). An increasing number of records report unusual dry conditions coinciding with hiatuses in construction, phases of temporary urban abandonment and population collapse. Previous reconstructions indicate that environmental conditions and precipitation on the Yucatan Peninsula were distributed very heterogeneously in space and time. In addition, the duration and chronology of events remains uncertain. Hence, in this project we propose to improve the timing and chronology of rainfall patterns (i.e. droughts and extreme precipitation) through the study of geochemical tracers at high resolution in speleothems from Estrella cave. This would thus permit to improve the coherence of paleoclimate change and Maya cultural evolution in northern Yucatan. As part of a DFG funded pilot-project we have discovered that Estrella cave near Valladolid not only hosts important Maya archaeological remains, constructions, and a graveyard, likely dating to the early classical Maya period, but also numerous speleothems with potentially unique climate information spanning the entire Maya era. Preliminary high precision 230Th/U-ages demonstrate continuous growth of stalagmites over more than 3000 years including the Maya evolution and reaching to even historical times. Furthermore, first analyses show that the incorporation of certain trace elements in these stalagmites is strongly related to changes in recharge above the cave. We will here generate a novel, replicated, uniquely resolved and accurately dated record of past precipitation in the area based on proxy analysis of trace elements and stable C and O isotopes in these speleothems. Through these records, along with comprehensive compilation of climate and cultural information, we will evaluate the influence of catastrophic natural events such as droughts, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and their compound specific impact on the Maya cultural history. This project, and a geochemical monitoring program, is supported by local speleologists, climate scientists and archeologists.

中美洲玛雅文明的不同文化演变和最终崩溃是备受争议的问题，讨论包括自然灾害（例如干旱、飓风、火山爆发）和社会灾难（例如战争和不可持续的经济）的影响。越来越多的记录报告了异常干旱的情况，同时也出现了建设中断、城市临时废弃和人口锐减的阶段。先前的重建表明，尤卡坦半岛的环境条件和降水在空间和时间上分布非常不均匀。此外，事件的持续时间和时间顺序仍然不确定。因此，在这个项目中，我们建议通过研究埃斯特雷拉洞穴洞穴中高分辨率地球化学示踪剂来改善降雨模式（即干旱和极端降水）的时间和年表。因此，这将有助于提高尤卡坦半岛北部古气候变化和玛雅文化演变的一致性。作为 DFG 资助的试点项目的一部分，我们发现巴利亚多利德附近的埃斯特雷拉洞穴不仅拥有重要的玛雅考古遗迹、建筑和墓地（可能可以追溯到早期古典玛雅时期），而且还拥有许多具有潜在独特气候信息的洞穴整个玛雅时代。初步的高精度230Th/U年龄表明，石笋在3000多年的时间里不断生长，包括玛雅的进化，甚至可以追溯到历史时期。此外，初步分析表明，这些石笋中某些微量元素的掺入与洞穴上方补给的变化密切相关。我们将根据这些洞穴中的微量元素和稳定的 C 和 O 同位素的代理分析，生成该地区过去降水的新颖、可复制、独特解析和准确年代记录。通过这些记录，再加上气候和文化信息的综合汇编，我们将评估干旱、火山爆发、飓风等灾难性自然事件的影响及其对玛雅文化历史的复合具体影响。该项目和地球化学监测计划得到了当地洞穴学家、气候科学家和考古学家的支持。