Novel Molecular and Geochemical Approaches to Watershed Analysis

The goal of this research project is to investigate the water control systems and the land management practices at the Maya city of Tikal. This project is highly innovative because it provides an opportunity to advance the scientific understanding of the fundamental adaptive practices that enabled the ancient Maya to support a high population density and complex social order during their zenith. In addition, this study represents a significant technological advance in the study of ancient cultures by identifying harmful bacteria and other microorganisms in the Tikal water system and by offering a better understanding of the history of Maya agriculture, nutrition, and encounters with diseases. These anticipated results can be compared to other known stages of Maya prehistory, including the time of the collapse, and form a baseline for regional comparisons. The proposed project represents a technological breakthrough; it will be the first time a microbial community composition study will be undertaken in the Maya area. In particular, this project has the distinct promise of leading to a more complete understanding of the basic economic underpinnings of one of the great Maya polities and how the ancient Maya, in the face of droughts and burgeoning populations in the mid-9th century AD, may have been unable to keep their complex water management system clear of problematic pathogens.

Dr. Lentz and his research team will address the following theoretical questions: How were the ancient Maya in the prominent city of Tikal able to maintain water quality and protect the watersheds surrounding the reservoirs that provided their large populations with adequate supplies of water during the Late Classic period (AD 600-900)? Did the Maya differentiate between water stored for human consumption and water collected principally for agriculture? Were the ancient Maya of Tikal able to keep their critical water resources clear of contamination from human and animal waste? How did the Maya protect their reservoirs, many with steep banks, from severe erosion? Did waterborne human pathogens contribute to the devastating collapse and abandonment of Tikal at the end of the Late Classic period? To answer these and other questions the use of next generation, high-throughput genetic sequencing techniques and soil geochemistry assessments will be employed in ways that will be both innovative and insightful. The novel techniques and planned research directives for this project will provide substantive answers to aspects of all of the proposed research questions.