Okuma AnlamaSoru #9347
The Maya Civilization and Ecological Strain
During the Classic Period (250–900 CE), the Maya civilization achieved magnificent feats of monumental architecture, hieroglyphic writing, astronomical calendrics, and intensive agricultural engineering across Central America. Yet, between the eighth and ninth centuries, their bustling lowland city-states experienced a catastrophic societal collapse, characterized by dramatic demographic depopulation, the cessation of royal inscriptions, and the abandonment of towering urban centers. While popular folklore previously attributed this sudden downfall to warfare or alien intervention, modern paleo-climatological analyses have uncovered a far more complex ecological explanation. Sediment core samples extracted from Yucatan lakebeds demonstrate that the region suffered prolonged, severe multi-decadal mega-droughts. Crucially, Maya agricultural practices, which involved widespread deforestation to cultivate maize and clear land for limestone plaster production, exacerbated local aridification. By stripping the forest canopy, the Maya inadvertently reduced evapotranspiration and local cloud cover, turning a natural dry cycle into an unmitigated humanitarian catastrophe. How did the Maya themselves worsen the impact of the natural drought, according to the passage?
- A)By damming natural rivers and diverting all freshwater into neighboring territories
- B)Through widespread deforestation, which reduced evapotranspiration and localized rainfall
- C)By poisoning subterranean cenote water tables with toxic agricultural chemicals
- D)Through excessive reliance on imported grain rather than indigenous maize crops
- E)By deliberately setting fire to surrounding rain forests to expand urban defense walls
Cevabı ve çözümü göster
Doğru cevap: B) Through widespread deforestation, which reduced evapotranspiration and localized rainfall
Çözüm: Metinde Maya halkının mısır tarımı ve sıva üretimi için ormanları yok etmesinin (deforestation) buharlaşma-terlemeyi ve bulut örtüsünü azaltarak kuraklığı daha da şiddetlendirdiği açıkça anlatılmıştır. Doğru cevap B'dir.