Human-Environment Relationships in the Maya Lowlands
Thursday, 4 July 2019, 6 – 7pm 
A lecture by archaeologist and epigrapher Dr Eva Jobbova organised by Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities.
Both the perceived “successes and failures” of the ancient Maya are often linked to their relationship with the local environment, and their response to episodes of climate change over a period of nearly 2000 years. However, we still know very little about the human-environment relationship dynamics involved, especially with respect to choices humans make in response to environmental change. Does society become increasingly complex? Is collapse inevitable? Does the local environment affect the choices people make in the face of environmental stress and if so how? Using a combination of ethnographic, archaeological, epigraphic and climatological evidence, in this talk, Dr Jobbova will explore relationships between Maya society (both modern and ancient) and the local environment over the long-term and on different scales and attempt to answer some of these questions.
Dr Jobbova is an archaeologist and epigrapher and her research has been mainly focused on ancient (and modern) Maya society. She is interested in a broad range of topics including the development and growth of low-density urbanism, growth of social complexity and societal collapse, development and intensification of subsistence strategies, but also the choices humans make in response to spatial and temporal variation in climate and environmental stress. She has participated in several archaeological projects, undertaking fieldwork in Belize, Guatemala, Morocco and the UK, working in a variety of cultural and environmental contexts. Since finishing her PhD at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL in 2018, she worked as a GIS analyst on a project in Morocco and until recently as a Senior Research Fellow on a collaborative project between the British Museum and Google Arts and Culture focused on the digitization of a large collection of Maya objects and monuments, which are not normally accessible to the public.
This is the 50th public meeting of the Irish Environmental History Network.
Campus Location: Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
Accessibility: Yes
Room: Neill Lecture Theatre
Event Category: Alumni, Lectures and Seminars, Public
Type of Event: One-time event
Audience: Undergrad, Postgrad, Alumni, Faculty & Staff, Public
Cost: Free
