On the Back of the Crocodile: Extent, Energetics, and Productivity in Wetland Agricultural Systems, Northern Belize (original) (raw)
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Quaternary International, 2018
We compare the geomorphology and soil of two ancient Maya wetland agricultural complexes in modern day Belize. This paper focuses on 3,000 years of soil geomorphology and paleoecological change to determine the chronology of wetland formation and human use in this region. We also characterize Maya manipulation of the environment over time, especially considering times of ecological or climactic change in the late Holocene. This paper adds to our ongoing research in northwestern Belize, specifically within two recently explored wetland agricultural systems, Neuendorf and Sierra de Agua. Although they are 40 km from one another and in different watersheds, they have similar water chemistry and comparable soil, as well as comparable ancient Maya agricultural field and canal stratigraphy. The Neuendorf wetland fields and associated Maya house mounds and platforms are 1.5 km northeast of the well-studied Chan Cahal residential group/wetland agricultural fields. This ancient Maya settlement zone sits on a small limestone escarpment, about 7-24 m above sea level on the Belizean coastal plain. New trenches and vibracores from this wetland complex support our previous models of wetland formation and human use from the Late Preclassic to the end of the Classic. The Sierra de Agua wetland fields, 40km to the southwest, are associated with a Maya urban center of the same name. This complex is part of the Irish Creek Wetlands within the New River watershed. In this system, the water table rose around 3,000 years before present, which resulted in a different type of field building and agricultural modification, similar to the chinampas models of central Mexico. This new and ongoing research contributes new pollen records, soils and geoarchaeology to the growing regional picture of wetland use and change throughout Maya history.
Beach et al- Lowland Maya wetland agriculture
In the Maya Lowlands of Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala two main types of wetlands have played important roles in human history: bajos or intermittently wet environments of the upland, interior Yucatá n and perennial wetlands of the coastal plains. Many of the most important Maya sites encircle the bajos, though our growing evidence for human-wetland interactions is still sparse. The deposits of these wetlands record two main eras of slope instability and wetland aggradation: the Pleistocene-Holocene transition as rainfall increased and forests eclipsed savannas and the Maya Preclassic to Classic as deforestation, land-use intensity, and drying increased. The ancient Maya adapted with terraces around these bajo margins but retracted in the Late Preclassic in some areas. The perennial wetlands of the coastal plains have different histories, and the first conceptual model of human-wetland interaction described intensive wetland agriculture in the Preclassic through Classic based on raised fields and canals. But a second model arose that interpreted the wetland stratigraphy and canals as more indicative of natural aggradation by accelerated erosion and gypsum precipitation that buried Archaic and Preclassic fields and there was little Classic era use. We present new data on a third and fourth model in this study. The third is a hybrid of the models one and two, including the Archaic to Preclassic aggradation of the second model, and the first model's Classic period fields and canals as piecemeal attempts by the Maya to adapt to these and other environmental changes. The fourth conceptual model describes a very Late/Terminal Classic, preplanned project on a floodplain. These wetland fields were short-lived, aggraded rapidly but with some reoccupation in the Postclassic. All of these new models display the burgeoning evidence for intricate Maya interactions with wetlands, and the diversity of evidence from the relatively few studies underscores the infancy of our understanding of Maya interaction with tropical wetlands.
A review of human and natural changes in Maya Lowland wetlands over the Holocene
Quaternary Science Reviews, 2009
In the Maya Lowlands of Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala two main types of wetlands have played important roles in human history: bajos or intermittently wet environments of the upland, interior Yucatán and perennial wetlands of the coastal plains. Many of the most important Maya sites encircle the bajos, though our growing evidence for human–wetland interactions is still sparse. The deposits of these wetlands record two main eras of slope instability and wetland aggradation: the Pleistocene–Holocene transition as rainfall increased and forests eclipsed savannas and the Maya Preclassic to Classic as deforestation, land-use intensity, and drying increased. The ancient Maya adapted with terraces around these bajo margins but retracted in the Late Preclassic in some areas. The perennial wetlands of the coastal plains have different histories, and the first conceptual model of human–wetland interaction described intensive wetland agriculture in the Preclassic through Classic based on raised fields and canals. But a second model arose that interpreted the wetland stratigraphy and canals as more indicative of natural aggradation by accelerated erosion and gypsum precipitation that buried Archaic and Preclassic fields and there was little Classic era use. We present new data on a third and fourth model in this study. The third is a hybrid of the models one and two, including the Archaic to Preclassic aggradation of the second model, and the first model's Classic period fields and canals as piecemeal attempts by the Maya to adapt to these and other environmental changes. The fourth conceptual model describes a very Late/Terminal Classic, preplanned project on a floodplain. These wetland fields were short-lived, aggraded rapidly but with some reoccupation in the Postclassic. All of these new models display the burgeoning evidence for intricate Maya interactions with wetlands, and the diversity of evidence from the relatively few studies underscores the infancy of our understanding of Maya interaction with tropical wetlands.
Archaeological research has demonstrated that the ancient Maya utilized a variety of agricultural techniques, including raised fields, arboriculture, kitchen gardens, and terracing, to raise food for their people. These varied techniques reflect a more sustainable approach to agriculture in the tropics than the traditional swidden (slashand-burn) farming primarily utilized today, especially when populations are comparatively large and sedentary. With the identification of these agricultural techniques, it is now necessary to provide details of the chronology, construction, and use. When and where were these technologies first constructed? Who built them, and how? How did their use develop over time? Answering these questions will provide us with a better understanding of how the ancient Maya were able to sustain an agriculturally-based culture for thousands of years in the tropical forest.
The art and archaeology of hydraulic agriculture in the Maya lowlands
Social process in Maya prehistory, 1977
The discovery that canals and ridged or raised fields, as they should be more correctly called (Denevan and Turner, 1974: 24), formed a major component of the ancient Maya landscape has provided a broad opportunity for new insights on old data. Following the initial identification and description of these features for the Maya lowlands , it is certainly to his credit that the first to look for these new insights was J. Eric S. Thompson himself. In a vigorous and perceptive paper (Thompson, 1974), he argued that the "canals" of the Rio Candelaria basin functioned primarily as artificially constructed fish refuges from which fish were collected for food. While I intend to challenge his argument for primacy of function of these canals and his correlative hypothesis that they did not serve for canoe transport, his contribution remains fundamental. It was his recognition of the potential contribution of fish that brought us to the realization that we had been underplaying the potential of the canals in our eagerness to investigate "fields". With the advantage of his perspec-As a product of the Rio Hondo Project, supported by Canada Council and the University of Minnesota's Graduate School and Office of International Programs, this paper draws on the contributions of many people. The author wishes particularly to acknowledge his debt to Alfred E. Siemens, Co-director of the Project, John P. Bradbury, Jamie E. Thomerson and those members of the project staff who participated in the north Belize survey. Also gratefully acknowledged are Ellen Bradbury, Donald Collier, and Bennet Bronson who read and commented on the first draft.
Classic Period Maya Water Management and Ecological Adaptation in the Belize River Valley
Archaeological research investigating prehistoric water management in the Maya lowlands has identified the diversity and complexity of ancient human adaptations to changing environments and socioeconomic landscapes. Our research at the medium-sized Maya center of Baking Pot, located in the Belize River Valley, has explored a water management system composed of a lattice system of ditches located in the southwestern periphery of the site. In this paper, we report the results of spatial analyses of LiDAR remote sensing data that has helped to reveal the nature and extent of this ditch system. Field reconnaissance conducted in 2015 confirmed the presence of ~23.5 linear km of ditches. Residential mounds interspersed between ditched areas were also recorded, perhaps indicating that ditches may delineate spatially distinct settlement clusters. We suggest that water management at Baking Pot became increasingly important during the Late Classic Period (AD 600-900) in the face of population increase, anthropogenic degradation of the landscape, and climate change. Models of settlement and migration derived from human behavioral ecology may provide insights into the role of the ditch system as an adaption that allowed the inhabitants of Baking Pot become more resilient in the face of changing social and natural ecological systems.