Reliance or Resilience? Volcanism and the Ancient Maya

The ancient Maya, renowned for their remarkable cultural achievements and complex societal structures, prospered for over a millennium within the volcanic landscapes of Mesoamerica (a region that today includes Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador). Although interwoven into Maya history, and possibly even a contributing cause for their decline during the Terminal Classic Period (AD 800–1000), the precise nature of this relationship with volcanism remains unresolved. Volcanic ash (tephra) is known to have frequently blanketed the Maya lowlands, yet previous evidence has been limited to spatially patchy records with poor chronological control. This project utilises the cryptotephra record of newly recovered, annually laminated (varved) lake sediment sequences from the Yucatán Peninsula (Lake San Claudio in Mexico and Lake Petexbatún in Guatemala) to reconstruct the sub-annual timing and dispersal of eruptions for the first time. In parallel, we geochemically analyse volcanic ash preserved as ceramic temper in pottery from the Classic Maya site of El Palmar (Mexico), providing a direct archaeological record of tephra exploitation and use. Together, these complementary datasets link environmental records of volcanism with archaeological evidence for the use of volcanic ash in material culture. This integrated approach offers new insight into the climatic and societal impacts of eruptions and how Maya communities may have responded to, engaged with, and utilised volcanic products.