Document Type
Thesis
Date of Degree Completion
Spring 2026
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Cultural and Environmental Resource Management
Committee Chair
Megan Walsh
Second Committee Member
Jennifer Lipton
Third Committee Member
Craig Revels
Abstract
This research uses multiproxy paleoenvironmental data to infer how humans living in the Progresso area of northern Belize interacted with fire and climate changes during the Holocene, specifically filling a gap in our understanding of these interactions during the early to middle Holocene. Charcoal records are especially important to this investigation given traditional Maya practice of agricultural biomass burning, and the rarity of natural fire in the region’s tropical lowland broadleaf forests. Past fire activity was reconstructed using macroscopic charcoal analysis on a sediment core collected from Chiwa Lake, a small karstic cenote one mile east of Progresso Lagoon. These efforts have produced one of the first macroscopic charcoal analysis-based fire history reconstructions for any site in northern Belize, and one of only three such studies in Belize as a whole.
Low levels of burning occurred in the Chiwa Lake area at the start of this record ca. 7000 calendar years before present (cal yr BP) and continued until present day, indicating a continuous human presence on the landscape for the entirety of the middle and late Holocene. After a brief increase in burning between ca. 4200 and 3900 cal yr BP, the reconstruction shows a period of highest fire activity between ca. 3600 and 1800 cal yr BP. This likely correlates to the primary period of agricultural burning in the Progresso area. The record also illustrates a pronounced reduction in burning between ca. 1800 and 1500 cal yr BP during the Early Classic Maya Period. This likely reflects a gradual decrease of burning on the landscape and coincides with the Terminal Preclassic Drought (ca. 1700 cal yr BP). The reason for this decrease could be a diminishing local population, whether due to decline or migration, changing subsistence techniques in response to agricultural intensification, or a variety of other possible explanations. Fire activity remained low near Chiwa Lake throughout the Classic, Terminal Classic, and Postclassic Periods until modern burning began ca. 100 cal yr BP [1850 CE].
This record provides valuable insight into the spatial variability of fire histories both locally within the Progresso area and regionally across much of lowland Mesoamerica. In this way, this reconstruction offers further proof that that the historical Maya were not a monolithic culture, but instead experienced periods of rise, change, and decline with much geographic and temporal variation. When combined with climatic and palynological data, this research will provide needed Holocene paleoenvironmental context to the archaeological findings from the Progresso Lagoon region.
Recommended Citation
Hardee, Bronwen, "Holocene Fire-Human-Climate Interactions near Progresso Lagoon in Northern Belize" (2026). All Master's Theses. 2367.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/2367
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