{"id":16749,"date":"2022-01-05T13:55:20","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T13:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=16749"},"modified":"2022-02-28T14:06:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T14:06:03","slug":"surviving-drought-made-easier-ancient-maya-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/surviving-drought-made-easier-ancient-maya-research\/16749\/","title":{"rendered":"Surviving drought made easier by ancient Maya research"},"content":{"rendered":"
Scientists have revealed through research that a series of droughts occurred in the Yucatan Peninsula of South-Eastern Mexico and Northern Central America at the end of the 9th<\/sup> Century. This data revealed that populations were struggling when it came to surviving, as the population began to significantly drop. Originally, scientists associated this drop with what they believed to be Maya\u2019s dependency on drought-sensitive corn, beans and squash, and theorised that the population starved.<\/p>\n However, the analysis conducted by Fedick and his team revealed that Maya had 497 edible plants available to them, most of which were drought resistant. Therefore, this suggests that in terms of surviving during a drought, the Maya population wouldn\u2019t have depleted due to starvation.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in the most extreme drought situation \u2014 and we have no clear evidence the most extreme situation ever occurred \u2014 59 species of edible plants would still have persisted,\u201d Santiago explained.<\/p>\n To survive, some of the plants that the Maya population would have turned were cassava, with its edible tubers, and hearts of palm. Another is chaya, a shrub domesticated by the Maya and eaten today by their descendants. Its leaves are high in protein, iron, potassium, and calcium. \u201cChaya and cassava together would have provided a huge amount of carbohydrates and protein,\u201d Santiago said.<\/p>\n Fedick and his team gathered and published a \u201cmaster list of ingredients\u201d to document all the indigenous Maya food plants that were discovered from this investigation. Drawing on decades of plant knowledge, the research team were able to consider each of these ingredients and determine which of the 497 plants on the list were drought resistant. To do this the scientists considered the cause of Maya\u2019s social disruptions, and whether drought was a contributing factor, in order to determine the plants that would be best for surviving whilst amid a drought.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen botanists study drought resistance, they\u2019re usually talking about a specific plant, or a particular ecosystem,\u201d Fedick explained. \u201cOne of the reasons this project was so challenging is because we examined the dietary flora of an entire civilization \u2014 annuals, perennials, herbs, trees, domesticates, and wild species. It was a unique endeavour.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the researchers do not have a clear answer about why ancient Maya society unravelled, or why their population was no longer surviving, they suspect social and economic upheaval played a role. \u201cOne thing we do know is the overly simplistic explanation of drought leading to agricultural collapse is probably not true,\u201d Fedick commented.<\/p>\nPlants documented<\/h3>\n