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Much of what is now a jungle in South America is recent, i.e. a product of the last 500-1500 years. Or rather, we know that many jungled areas were once open. H

by duaneb 10y ago

Much of what is now a jungle in South America is recent, i.e. a product of the last 500-1500 years. Or rather, we know that many jungled areas were once open. Hence why we are still discovering entire settlements buried deep in jungle.

ryan_j_naughton 10y ago
(A) Guatemala is in Central America, not South America. Central America being part of North America. In countless ways, Mexico and Central America are far more connected to the US than to South America. (B) a lot of these cities discovered in the jungle is not because it was naturally not jungle before. Instead, it was jungle that the Maya deforested and cultivated the land. The amount of deforestation by the ancient Maya was similar (though smaller scale) to that of the Europeans. This point in particular is critical in breaking the myth of the Maya as a super environmental people on harmony with nature. It makes them an overly simplistic "native people". The reality is they might have caused their own demise through environmental destruction (or at least the classical cities, the post classical are a different story)
- duaneb 10y ago
  > Instead, it was jungle that the Maya deforested and cultivated the land. I am immensely skeptical. Do you have sources for this?
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - detaro 10y ago
    First possibly-reliable source I found (I had read about this before, but don't remember where) Some text: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Maya/ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Maya/ and some maps speculating about the extend and climate change: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77060 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77060
- tn13 10y ago
  We know that native Indians built huge densely populated cities, cleared forests, shaped nature to suite their needs and engaged in bloody wars all the time. They created Maze through selective breeding of previous crops. My money is on the fact that Mayans were pretty similar. Also, I think it is incorrect to think that people who burn down forests aren't in harmony with nature. You can use nature and be in harmony with it at the same time. That is what I learned from ancient Hindu beliefs. Evidence: https://www.amazon.com/1491-Second-Revelations-Americas-Columbus-ebook/dp/B000JMKVE4?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect https://www.amazon.com/1491-Second-Revelations-Americas-Colu...

by duaneb 10y ago

ryan_j_naughton 10y ago

(A) Guatemala is in Central America, not South America. Central America being part of North America. In countless ways, Mexico and Central America are far more connected to the US than to South America. (B) a lot of these cities discovered in the jungle is not because it was naturally not jungle before. Instead, it was jungle that the Maya deforested and cultivated the land. The amount of deforestation by the ancient Maya was similar (though smaller scale) to that of the Europeans. This point in particular is critical in breaking the myth of the Maya as a super environmental people on harmony with nature. It makes them an overly simplistic "native people". The reality is they might have caused their own demise through environmental destruction (or at least the classical cities, the post classical are a different story)

duaneb 10y ago
> Instead, it was jungle that the Maya deforested and cultivated the land. I am immensely skeptical. Do you have sources for this?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- detaro 10y ago
  First possibly-reliable source I found (I had read about this before, but don't remember where) Some text: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Maya/ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Maya/ and some maps speculating about the extend and climate change: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77060 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77060
tn13 10y ago
We know that native Indians built huge densely populated cities, cleared forests, shaped nature to suite their needs and engaged in bloody wars all the time. They created Maze through selective breeding of previous crops. My money is on the fact that Mayans were pretty similar. Also, I think it is incorrect to think that people who burn down forests aren't in harmony with nature. You can use nature and be in harmony with it at the same time. That is what I learned from ancient Hindu beliefs. Evidence: https://www.amazon.com/1491-Second-Revelations-Americas-Columbus-ebook/dp/B000JMKVE4?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&redirect=true&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect https://www.amazon.com/1491-Second-Revelations-Americas-Colu...