GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW FORUM: REFLECTIONS ON CHARLES C. MANN'S 1491 -- CULTURE, ECOLOGY, AND THE CLASSIC MAYA COLLAPSE

摘要

Of the three topical pillars upon which Charles Mann constructs 7497, human-environment relationships in the Americas is the most strongly supported by a rich array of multidisciplinary evidence. Interpretations of this evidence, however, have been controversial in the world beyond 7497 and grow increasingly so. Several examples illustrate this debate. Paleoecological work that indicates significant environmental degradation in pre-Hispanic Mexico triggers concern that attention given to the environmental consequences of the Spanish conquest may be diverted to those who were conquered. Research on terra preta in Amazonia implies large, pre-European populations, challenging various themes about the carrying capacity of tropical forest biomes. Evidence that Native Americans may have assisted in the eradication of the bison herds of the Great Plains challenges the claim that Amerindians were "green" in their intentions toward, and treatment of, the environment and natural resources (for example, la leyenda verde, or green legend). Newfound traces of climate change resurrect the specter of environmental determinism regarding the collapse of the Classic-period Maya. In each case, new evidence reopens interpretations of human-environment conditions thatare politically or culturally charged-they threaten important group identities or empowerment claims-or are inconsistent with, even antithetical to, the accepted metanarratives of certain explanatory perspectives.