84 Geoarchaeology of Sites to Landscapes: Current Research on Long-Term Water and Soil Management and Maladaptation, Part I

This session brings together geoarchaeological projects from around the world that study ancient water and soil or agricultural management. This session will compare techniques, timing, and evidence for adaptation to past and present environmental changes.

Monday, 20 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 214D

Spatial Heterogeneity of Water Quality and Ancient Maya Water Management in the Three Rivers Watershed of the Central American Maya Lowlands

Paper number: 84-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:25 AM – 9:40 AM

Authors

Abstract

Water quality is an essential consideration for water and land uses, from domestic to industrial and agricultural needs. While the northern Maya Lowlands region is largely underlain by karstic limestone, water chemistry varies distinctly across regional and local scales, and across geomorphic and anthropogenic landscapes. This paper presents the findings of more than three decades of surface and groundwater monitoring and evaluation across the Three Rivers Watersheds of the Maya Lowlands, with a particular focus on water resources supplying the current locations of ancient Maya archaeological settlement sites, including ancient Maya raised and ditched agricultural fields. While Heraclitus reminds us that we cannot step in the same river twice, underlying geologic conditions imprint ionic characteristics on water chemistry that remain consistent, and these geochemical fingerprints can be used as proxies for potential ancient water uses, as they do for modern land and water use studies. Our research shows that not only does water quality vary at the regional and local spatial scales, it varies within geomorphic and archaeological site settings, suggesting that the ancient Maya were likely aware of the advantages and disadvantages of various available water sources, and managed the water accordingly. Massive ancient hydrologic infrastructure across the region revealed by field survey, Lidar scanning, ground validation, and excavation testifies to the ancient hydrologic engineering that altered the landscape of the Neotropics long ago and continues to influence hydrology today.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-413172

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