Fellow, Pre-Columbian Studies
Timothy's project is to research and write a book on ancient Maya wetland interactions. He will leverage the library of Dumbarton Oaks, the wider literature, and his own studies from field, lab, and LiDAR to write a book on Maya wetland agroecosystems from the Holocene to Anthropocene. The project will draw from all forms of Maya and World archaeology and science ranging from iconography to wetland ecosystems, cropping systems, landscape formation, chronology, water and soil management, new evidence from LiDAR, possibilities for sustainable development, comparative wetland systems, and climate change and subsistence implications of these widespread systems.
Timothy Beach is a Guggenheim, Dumbarton Oaks, and AAAS Fellow. He holds a Centennial Chair in US Mexican Relations and is a Professor and Director of the Soils and Geoarchaeology Labs in Geography & Environment at UT Austin. His research ranges from soil profiles to watersheds from the Pleistocene to the present, especially in the Maya and Mediterranean worlds. He has authored hundreds of publications and given invited lectures around the world. Most of his research has focused on climate, environmental change, wetlands, and soils in the geoarchaeology of the Maya Lowlands, winning awards in Geology (Kirk Bryan), Geography (G.K. Gilbert), and Archaeology (Fryxell).