A focus on plant diversity and maintaining wild tracts of forest helped some Maya cities succeed for centuries.
, Lentz and his colleagues combined three types of information. They examined 38 soil samples for seeds and other macrobotanical remains; analyzed pollen; and conducted environmental DNA analysis on the genetic material that they found preserved in soil samples around the ancient reservoir and elsewhere. These samples at Yaxnohcah dated from roughly 800 B.C. to A.D. 1200.
This indicates that the Maya were leaving parts of the forest around them intact, even close to the center of the city in Yaxnohcah. These areas would have been important sources of some wild plants they harvested for medicine and other non-timber products. They also helped to maintain biodiversity, compared to our single-crop orchards that we use to grow food in modern day.
They also raised some fields in swampy areas and drained other areas. This was important, Lentz says, because the area around Yaxnohcah doesn’t receive much rain during parts of the year. Tropical forests help retain water during the rainy season. If too much vegetation is cleared, however, rainwater will quickly drain into the porous soil substrate, which is mostly calcium carbonate. At that point, the water would become unavailable to the Maya inhabitants.
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