The relationship between the climate and societal transformation in Maya lowlands has long been debated, particularly the role of drought in shaping the civilization trajectory during the Classic Period. A high‐resolution, multi‐proxy, geochemical record from Lake Kaná, located in the underexplored Uaymil region of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, helped to reconstruct the dynamics of detrital input, redox condition, organic productivity, and carbonate precipitation over the past ~2800 cal. years. Principal component analysis (PCA) of selected elements and their ratios integrated the responses to hydroclimate dynamics by yielding two rainfall‐sensitive indices, that is a focused Rainfall Index (from Al/Sr, Ti/Sr, and −Sr/Ca) and a broader element‐based Rainfall Index, for the effective and meteoric rainfalls, respectively. This new record revealed diminished detrital flux, enhanced redox stratification and low‐carbonate precipitation around 1652, 1200–900 and 600–540 cal. a BP, suggesting drought episodes and more water column anoxia. Inorganic carbon content below 5% in most of the sequence, notably, a rare condition in karstic lakes, likely resulted from sustained redox environment, siliciclastic dilution and clay‐mediated inhibition of calcite nucleation. Our results also indicated human activities between 1600–1200 cal. a BP, but of low influence. Both the climatic and anthropogenic responses captured here contribute to the growing evidence of complex climate‐society interactions across Mesoamerica and highlight the importance of an integrated geochemical approach in neotropical palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
Martinez‐Dyrzo et al. (2026) studied this question.