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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Science Advances

Toxic mercury, aquatic ecosystem collapse, and the ancient Lowland Maya

  • Matthew Neal Waters1
  • Savanna Lee Wooten1
  • Ashley Mark Abrook2
  • Mark Brenner3
  • Jason Hilleary Curtis3
  • Peter Guy Langdon2
  • Roger Manuel Medina-Gonzalez4
  • Savvas Paradeisis-Stathis1
  • Richard Scott Vachula5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
  2. 2School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
  3. 3Department of Geological Sciences, and Land Use and Environmental Change Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
  4. 4Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida, México.
  5. 5Department of Geosciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
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Abstract

Environmental impacts endured by the Lowland Maya during the Classic Period (250 to 920 CE) included droughts, deforestation, and soil erosion. Recent studies on mercury (Hg) pollution and cyanotoxins suggest that degraded water quality was also a stressor for the Pre-Columbian Maya. Hg in the Maya region is related to use of both elemental mercury and mineral cinnabar (HgS), the latter used as a red pigment. Questions, however, remain concerning the toxicity of Hg or the consequences of prehistoric Hg exposure on ecosystem and human health. Here, we show that Classic Period Hg concentrations in sediment cores from two lakes on the Yucatán Peninsula exceeded modern sediment Hg toxicity thresholds by orders of magnitude for centuries during ancient Maya occupation. Sediments also have evidence of aquatic food web collapse (algae, bacteria, cyanobacteria, ostracods, snails, and nonbiting midges), coincident with the time of high Hg concentrations, confirming that Hg toxicity was an additional environmental stressor for Classic Maya populations.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{waters2026toxic,
  title = {{Toxic mercury, aquatic ecosystem collapse, and the ancient Lowland Maya}},
  author = {Matthew Neal Waters and Savanna Lee Wooten and Ashley Mark Abrook and Mark Brenner and Jason Hilleary Curtis and Peter Guy Langdon and Roger Manuel Medina-Gonzalez and Savvas Paradeisis-Stathis and Richard Scott Vachula},
  journal = {Science Advances},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aeh3280},
  url = {https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aeh3280},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Toxic mercury, aquatic ecosystem collapse, and the ancient Lowland Maya
AU  - Matthew Neal Waters
AU  - Savanna Lee Wooten
AU  - Ashley Mark Abrook
AU  - Mark Brenner
AU  - Jason Hilleary Curtis
AU  - Peter Guy Langdon
AU  - Roger Manuel Medina-Gonzalez
AU  - Savvas Paradeisis-Stathis
AU  - Richard Scott Vachula
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/04
JO  - Science Advances
DO  - 10.1126/sciadv.aeh3280
UR  - https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aeh3280
AB  - Environmental impacts endured by the Lowland Maya during the Classic Period (250 to 920 CE) included droughts, deforestation, and soil erosion. Recent studies on mercury (Hg) pollution and cyanotoxins suggest that degraded water quality was also a stressor for the Pre-Columbian Maya. Hg in the Maya region is related to use of both elemental mercury and mineral cinnabar (HgS), the latter used as a red pigment. Questions, however, remain concerning the toxicity of Hg or the consequences of prehistoric Hg exposure on ecosystem and human health. Here, we show that Classic Period Hg concentrations in sediment cores from two lakes on the Yucatán Peninsula exceeded modern sediment Hg toxicity thresholds by orders of magnitude for centuries during ancient Maya occupation. Sediments also have evidence of aquatic food web collapse (algae, bacteria, cyanobacteria, ostracods, snails, and nonbiting midges), coincident with the time of high Hg concentrations, confirming that Hg toxicity was an additional environmental stressor for Classic Maya populations.
SN  - 2375-2548
ER  -