The Maya Preclassic in the mid‐elevations of tropical Mexico

ABSTRACT The Mesoamerican Preclassic period offers a laboratory for understanding how interactions between climate and early human occupation have shaped tropical ecosystems. Although the environmental history of the Maya lowlands during this period is relatively well known, mid‐elevation regions remain poorly understood. Here, we present a multiproxy sedimentary analysis from Lake Nahá, tropical mountains of southeastern Mexico, to elucidate climate–human interactions. Our results reveal three environmental stages that broadly align with the cultural–historical phases of the period. The first stage (~3200–2680 cal a BP) features low lake levels, high aquatic productivity, a progressively drier climate, and sparse human occupation. The second stage (~2680–2170 cal a BP) shows rising lake levels that expanded aquatic habitats, coinciding with a pause in the drying trend and greater anthropogenic impact. The third stage (~2170–1600 cal a BP) records renewed drying, lower lake levels, and moderate primary productivity, alongside a decline in fire activity and a shift toward more negative δ 13 C, coincident with the large‐scale Preclassic abandonment. These results demonstrate that Preclassic environmental trajectories in the tropical mountains were shaped by the combined influence of hydroclimate variability, coherent with that reported for the Maya lowlands, and spatially heterogeneous human occupation.