This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Rainforests in Central America that have remained largely untouched by modern human activities could bear the invisible imprint of ancient Maya civilizations. New research has found that forest structure in Belize, such as canopy height and leaf density, may be influenced by how the Maya transformed and used the land thousands of years ago.
By examining LiDAR scans of the region, archaeologists have, for the first time, compared forest characteristics to the remnants of Maya infrastructure beneath, such as ancient canals or buildings. Their findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, reveal that taller and more varied forests are growing in areas previously used as wetland fields, while forests with higher foliage canopies are often found around settlements and upland wall features. The research was conducted by experts at the Universities of Exeter and Texas at Austin as part of an ongoing study of human–environment interactions in Belize, named Bladen Legacy.
"We know that modern land use is transforming tropical landscapes on an unprecedented scale," says lead author Dr. Sara Eshleman, a postdoctoral research associate on the Bladen Legacy project. "What this research reveals is that those landscapes already bear the deep ecological imprint of ancient civilizations.
What we think of as 'pristine rainforest' may well owe much of its structure to the different ways that the Maya stewarded the land." The focus of the study was an area of the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area (RBCMA) once home to two large Maya centers, Wari Camp and Gran Cacao, as well as the Central Rio Bravo wetland field complex. The results revealed that the strongest correlation between forest composition and Maya infrastructure was in areas modified for wetland agriculture. The Maya engineered entire canal systems, which may have altered the ecological trajectory of the land, leading to taller trees with denser canopies.
Forests growing around ancient settlements were also distinguished by greater canopy cover and vegetation concentrated toward their upper reaches. This, the researchers say, could have been influenced by factors such as limestone leaching into the soil from the buildings and the presence of species such as the Ramón tree, which is associated with Maya structures. The research also looked at areas of the RBCMA containing upland wall features, but there was a weaker correlation, with some evidence that vegetation tended to be concentrated at higher canopy heights.
Overall, the results were strongest when studied at a scale of between 100 m (330 feet) and 300 m (980 feet) in width, and the research team says a much larger study area will be needed to determine whether the patterns identified extend across the wider Maya Forest. "LiDAR surveys are revealing extensive networks of ancient settlements, terraces, walls and wetland fields across Central America," says Dr. Mark Robinson of Exeter's Department of Archaeology and History.
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