Your note on the Maya is incorrect. The Maya did not live as north as they could on the Yucatán peninsula.
The Maya had distinct phases. First, the classic Maya world developed primarily centered on the region of Peten, Guatemala, centered on the large lowland cities such as Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque.
There were highland Maya but the civilization had its greatest prominence in the lowlands of northern Guatemala. The highlands were important as a source of obsidian, stone, and other resources.
Then the classic Maya collapse occurred, this center of civilization was reduced, and development began to shift.. not southward toward the Guatemalan highlands but northward. Cities such as Chichén Itzá were actually quite late in the span of Maya civilization but represent the location of the highest societal complexity of the Postclassic period.
There were different hypotheses about Maya population densities, with one end of the range holding that the lowland Maya world was among the most densely populated in the world at the time. Modern LiDAR research has found an astounding amount of infrastructure under the forest canopy, confirming the higher estimates as being more accurate.
Similarly, this technology is being applied in the Amazon and we are finding a surprising amount of lost cities and evidence of quite high population densities.
The Maya have been held as a great counter example to the idea that development to high population densities is impossible in tropical forest landscapes, and it does appear that much of the neotropics have these relict civilizations that provide similar challenges.
One might argue, well, they collapsed, however periodic collapse was more of a feature of all the civilizations in the American continent than an anomaly.
Overall I loved your posts on this topic and they’re very compelling. I’m somewhat considering doing a deep dive on this topic of rainforest civilizations as I have taken classes in Maya archaeology and this has long been one of my favorite subjects.
Human habitation does seem to follow the patterns you describe to a remarkable extent. But there are some quite significant counterexamples hiding below the forest canopy.
You are right. I made the map after writing that section and I forgot to update it. I will now.
When you look at that map, you notice that all three Mayan areas were the driest in the region. But you’re right that the original one was also the wettest.
It would be amazing to have much more detailed data on population densities in the past. It would help this type of endeavor tremendously.
Lots of information to think about here. I appreciate the article. The only thing I’ll push back on is the Kalahari. This is the area where the San people live and they are likely the oldest continuously people in the world. They are highly adapted to the environment and while economically impoverished , culturally rich. The Tsodilo Hills area has cave artwork exceeding 4k paintings dating back 100,000 years. When seen by
European colonizers they were baffled by paintings of penguins. They didn’t understand that the San walked to the ocean and back to North West Botswana. In a world increasingly threatened by climate change climate adaptability is wealth.
You keep outdoing yourself! Great article. I have one thought that perhaps the timefame is not large enough, but to take an example, Egypt was much greener 3-4,000 years ago and desertification throughout some temperate regions were very different than what we see today. To name a few, the Gobi, Sahara and many other land areas throughtout the world, were smaller and more temperate. We live on a constantly changing rock.
As a side note, unrelated to geography, the view today of the mainstream archeologists regarding the pyramids and Sphynx, there is mounting evidence that the pyramids are quite older than the current narrative.
Uncharted Territories, as you’ve brought up: heating planet, the taboo subject of population and the environment, if you haven’t come across Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa’s recent 2025 documentary film (free to view on YouTube) “GREENWASHED” I highly recommend that you do. It can be found on your web browser, by searching for:
“Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa - GREENWASHED | Full Documentary [Official]”🤔
Your note on the Maya is incorrect. The Maya did not live as north as they could on the Yucatán peninsula.
The Maya had distinct phases. First, the classic Maya world developed primarily centered on the region of Peten, Guatemala, centered on the large lowland cities such as Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque.
There were highland Maya but the civilization had its greatest prominence in the lowlands of northern Guatemala. The highlands were important as a source of obsidian, stone, and other resources.
Then the classic Maya collapse occurred, this center of civilization was reduced, and development began to shift.. not southward toward the Guatemalan highlands but northward. Cities such as Chichén Itzá were actually quite late in the span of Maya civilization but represent the location of the highest societal complexity of the Postclassic period.
There were different hypotheses about Maya population densities, with one end of the range holding that the lowland Maya world was among the most densely populated in the world at the time. Modern LiDAR research has found an astounding amount of infrastructure under the forest canopy, confirming the higher estimates as being more accurate.
Similarly, this technology is being applied in the Amazon and we are finding a surprising amount of lost cities and evidence of quite high population densities.
The Maya have been held as a great counter example to the idea that development to high population densities is impossible in tropical forest landscapes, and it does appear that much of the neotropics have these relict civilizations that provide similar challenges.
One might argue, well, they collapsed, however periodic collapse was more of a feature of all the civilizations in the American continent than an anomaly.
Overall I loved your posts on this topic and they’re very compelling. I’m somewhat considering doing a deep dive on this topic of rainforest civilizations as I have taken classes in Maya archaeology and this has long been one of my favorite subjects.
Human habitation does seem to follow the patterns you describe to a remarkable extent. But there are some quite significant counterexamples hiding below the forest canopy.
You are right. I made the map after writing that section and I forgot to update it. I will now.
When you look at that map, you notice that all three Mayan areas were the driest in the region. But you’re right that the original one was also the wettest.
It would be amazing to have much more detailed data on population densities in the past. It would help this type of endeavor tremendously.
Great posting. Enjoyed reading it. This is a one-stop lesson in demographics . Should be recommended reading for each student.
Thanks!
Lots of information to think about here. I appreciate the article. The only thing I’ll push back on is the Kalahari. This is the area where the San people live and they are likely the oldest continuously people in the world. They are highly adapted to the environment and while economically impoverished , culturally rich. The Tsodilo Hills area has cave artwork exceeding 4k paintings dating back 100,000 years. When seen by
European colonizers they were baffled by paintings of penguins. They didn’t understand that the San walked to the ocean and back to North West Botswana. In a world increasingly threatened by climate change climate adaptability is wealth.
This is gorgeous. Tomas, such a great leap forward! Do you want fan support in your research?
You keep outdoing yourself! Great article. I have one thought that perhaps the timefame is not large enough, but to take an example, Egypt was much greener 3-4,000 years ago and desertification throughout some temperate regions were very different than what we see today. To name a few, the Gobi, Sahara and many other land areas throughtout the world, were smaller and more temperate. We live on a constantly changing rock.
As a side note, unrelated to geography, the view today of the mainstream archeologists regarding the pyramids and Sphynx, there is mounting evidence that the pyramids are quite older than the current narrative.
Uncharted Territories, as you’ve brought up: heating planet, the taboo subject of population and the environment, if you haven’t come across Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa’s recent 2025 documentary film (free to view on YouTube) “GREENWASHED” I highly recommend that you do. It can be found on your web browser, by searching for:
“Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa - GREENWASHED | Full Documentary [Official]”🤔