Paleoenvironmental and Paleoecological Reconstruction of the Ancient Maya Port Site of Vista Alegre, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Ancient Maya ports along the largely unstudied northeast coast of the Yucatan Peninsula once supported a network of trade routes linking people, goods, and ideas from across Mesoamerica. The Costa Escondida Project has focused on the interrelationships between the ancient Maya and their dynamic coastal environment along the shores of the Laguna Holbox. Central to our interdisciplinary efforts is a paleoenvironmental and paleoecological reconstruction of the key port of Vista Alegre - a low-lying island surrounded by a complex mosaic of costal ecosystems, sedimentological facies, and hydrological conditions. Geoarchaeological field methods, such as sediment coring, have made possible multiproxy analyses that enable us to better understand sea level fluctuations and the morphology of the shoreline and harboring locations over time, as well as changes in ecosystem biodiversity, which would have presented the maritime Maya with unique challenges and opportunities.