Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-19T10:00:07.345Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Mary D. Pohl ,
Kevin O. Pope ,
John G. Jones ,
John S. Jacob ,
Dolores R. Piperno ,
Susan D. deFrance ,
David L. Lentz ,
John A. Gifford ,
Marie E. Danforth  and
J. Kathryn Josserand
Mary D. Pohl
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
Kevin O. Pope
Affiliation:
Geo Eco Arc Research, 2222 Foothill Boulevard, Suite E-272, La Canada, CA 91011
John G. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843
John S. Jacob
Affiliation:
Fugro International, P.O. Box 740010, Houston, TX 77274
Dolores R. Piperno
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, APO 34002-0948
Susan D. deFrance
Affiliation:
Corpus Christi Museum, 1900 North Chaparral, Corpus Christi, TX 78401
David L. Lentz
Affiliation:
New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10454
John A. Gifford
Affiliation:
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL 33149
Marie E. Danforth
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406
J. Kathryn Josserand
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Wetland research in northern Belize provides the earliest evidence for development of agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Pollen data confirm the introduction of maize and manioc before 3000 B.C. Dramatic deforestation, beginning ca. 2500 B.C. and intensifying in wetland environments ca. 1500-1300 B.C., marks an expansion of agriculture, which occurred in the context of a mixed foraging economy. By 1000 B.C. a rise in groundwater levels led farmers to construct drainage ditches coeval with the emergence of Maya complex society ca. 1000-400 B.C. Field manipulations often involved minor modifications of natural hummocks. Canal systems are not as extensive in northern Belize as previously reported, nor is there evidence of artificially raised planting platforms. By the Classic period, wetland fields were flooded and mostly abandoned.

Las investigaciones sobre las regiones de suelos húmedos o pantanosos del norte de Belice ofrecen las primeras evidencias del desarrollo de la agricultura maya. La información paleoecológica que se encontró en los pantanos de Belice confirma el uso de manioca y maíz antes del año 3000 a.C., mientras que el periodo alrededor de los años 2500-1300 a.C. se distingue por una gran expansión agrícola que ha quedado marcada por un episodio de dramática deforestación que incluyó el cultivo de pantanos. Estos cambios ecológicos tuvieron lugar en el contexto de una economía de forrajeo. Aproximadamente en el año 1000 a.C. el nivel freático subió creando la necesidad de la construcción de canales de drenaje, contemporánea con la emergencia de la compleja infraestructura en la socieded maya en los años 1000-400 a.C. Este desarrollo incluye pequeñas modificaciones en la topografía. Nuestra investigación encontró que el sistema de canales no es tan extenso en el norte de Belice como previamente se reportó, e incluso no se encontraron evidencias de plataformas agrícolas artificiales. Durante el horizonte Clásico los campos de suelos húmedos fueron inundados y en su mayoría abandonados.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 355 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Alcala-Harrera, J. A., Jacob, J. S., Machain Castillo, M. L., and Neck, R. W. 1994 Holocene Paleosalinity in a Maya Wetland, Belize, Inferred from the Microfaunal Assemblage. Quaternary Research 41:121–130.Google Scholar
Antoine, P., Skarie, R., and Bloom, P. 1982 The Origin of Raised Fields Near San Antonio, Belize: An Alternative Hypothesis. In Maya Subsistence, edited by K. V. Flannery, pp. 227–236. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, A. S., and Barghoorn, E. S. 1973 Phytogeographic History of the Isthmus of Panama during the Past 12,000 Years (A History of Vegetation, Climate, and Sea-Level Change). In Vegetation and Vegetational History of Northern Latin America, edited by A. Graham, pp. 203–299. Elsevier Scientific, New York.Google Scholar
Benz, B. 1994 Reconstructing the Racial Phytogeny of Mexican Maize: Where Do We Stand? In Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World, edited by S. Johannessen and C. A. Hastorf, pp. 157–180. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology and Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Blake, M., Clark, J., Chisholm, B., and Mudar, K. 1992a Non-Agricultural Staples and Agricultural Supplements: Early Formative Subsistence in the Soconusco Region, Mexico. In Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory, edited by A. B. Gebauer and T. D. Price, pp. 133–152. Prehistory Press, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Blake, M., Chisholm, B., Clark, J., Voorhies, B., and Love, M. 1992b Prehistoric Subsistence in the Soconusco Region. Current Anthropology 33:83–94.Google Scholar
Byrne, R., and Horn, S. P. 1989 Prehistoric Agriculture and Forest Clearance in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Palynology 13:181–193.Google Scholar
Clark, J. E. 1994 The Development of Early Formative Rank Societies in the Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Clark, J. E., and Blake, M. 1994 The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and the Emergence of Rank Societies in Lowland Mesoamerica. In Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World, edited by E. M. Brumfiel and J. W. Fox, pp. 17–30. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, R. 1984 Archaeological Research in Central and Eastern Panama: A Review of Some Problems. In The Archaeology of Lower Central America, edited by F. Lange and D. Stone, pp. 263–302. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Cooke, R. 1995 Monagrillo, Panama’s First Pottery. In The Emergence of Pottery, edited by W. K. Barnett and J. Hoopes, pp. 169–184. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Cooke, R., and Ranere, A. 1992 Prehistoric Human Adaptations to the Seasonally Dry Forests of Panama. World Archaeology 24:114–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deevey, E., Rice, D., Rice, P., Vaughan, H., Brenner, M., and Flannery, S. 1979 Maya Urbanism: Impact on a Tropical Karst Environment. Science 206:298–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doebley, J. F. 1990 Molecular Evidence and the Evolution of Maize. Economic Botany 44:6–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doehring, D. O., and Butler, J. H. 1974 Hydrogeologic Constraints on Yucatan’s Development. Science 186:591–595.Google Scholar
Doolittle, W. E. 1990 Canal Irrigation in Prehistoric Mexico. The Sequence of Technological Change. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Feddema, V. 1993 Early Formative Subsistence and Agriculture in Southeastern Mesoamerica. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.Google Scholar
Flannery, K. V. (editor) 1986 Guilá Naquitz. Archaic Foraging and Agriculture in Oaxaca, Mexico. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida.Google Scholar
Fletcher, C. H. III, Van Pelt, J. E., Brush, G. S., and Sherman, J. 1993 Tidal Wetland Record of Holocene Sea-level Movements and Climate History. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 102:177–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritz, G. 1994 Are the First American Farmers Getting Younger? Current Anthropology 35:305–309.Google Scholar
Gepts, P., Osborn, T. C., Raska, K., and Bliss, F. A. 1986 Phaseolin Seed Protein Variability in Wild Forms and Landraces of the Common Bean, Phaseolus vulgaris. Evidence for Multiple Centers of Domestication. Economic Botany 40:451–468.Google Scholar
Hansell, P. 1987 The Formative in Pacific Central Panama: La Mula-Sarigua. In Chiefdoms of America, edited by R. D. Drennan and C. Uribe, pp.119–139. University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Hansen, B. S. 1990 Pollen Stratigraphy of Laguna de Cocos, Albion Island, Rio Hondo, Belize. In Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize, edited by M. Pohl, pp. 155–187. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology and Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Hawkes, J. C. 1989 The Domestication of Roots and Tubers in the American Tropics. In Foraging and Farming. The Evolution of Plant Exploitation, edited by D. R. Harris and G. C. Hillman, pp. 481–503. Unwin Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Hayden, B. 1990 Nimrods, Piscators, Pluckers, and Planters: The Emergence of Food Production. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 9:31–69.Google Scholar
Hester, T. R., Iceland, H., Hudler, D., Brewington, R., Lohse, H. J., and Shafer, J. 1993 New Evidence on the Preceramic Era in Northern Belize: A Preliminary Overview. Newsletter of the Friends of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory 1:19–23.Google Scholar
High, L. R. 1975 Geomorphology and Sedimentology of Holocene Coastal Deposits, Belize. In Belize Shelf—Carbonate Sediments, Clastic Sediments, and Ecology, edited by K. W. Wantland and W. C. Pussey III, pp. 53–96. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, Oklahoma.Google Scholar
Hoopes, J. 1991 The Isthmian Alternative: Reconstructing Patterns of Social Organization in Formative Costa Rica. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by W. Fowler, pp. 171–192. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.Google Scholar
Hudler, D., and Lohse, J. 1994 A Functional and Contextual Study of Chert Tools from Belize. Paper presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Anaheim, California.Google Scholar
Iceland, H., Hester, T. R., Shafer, H. J., and Hudler, D. 1995 The Colha Preceramic Project: A Status Report. Newsletter of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory 3:11–15.Google Scholar
Jacob, J. S. 1992 The Agroecological Evolution of Cobweb Swamp, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Soil Science, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Jacob, J. S. 1995a Ancient Maya Wetland Agricultural Fields in Cobweb Swamp, Belize: Construction, Chronology, and Function. Journal of Field Archaeology 22:175–190.Google Scholar
Jacob, J. S. 1995b Archaeological Pedology in the Maya Lowlands. In Pedological Perspectives in Archaeological Research, pp. 51–80. Special Publication 44. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Jones, J. G. 1991 Pollen Evidence of Prehistoric Forest Modification and Maya Cultivation in Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Jones, J. G. 1994 Pollen Evidence for Early Settlement and Agriculture in Northern Belize. Palynology 18:205–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, T. 1974 Mesoamerican Indian Languages. Encyclopedia Brittanica. 15th ed. 11:956–963.Google Scholar
Kelley, T. 1993 Preceramic Projectile Point Typology in Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:205–227.Google Scholar
Leopold, A. S. 1972 Wildlife of Mexico. The Game Birds and Mammals. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Lohse, J. 1992 Operation 4046 Colha, Belize. A Reconstruction of a Lowland Archaic Deposit. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Long, A., Benz, B., Donahue, D., Jull, A., and Toolin, L. 1989 First Direct AMS Dates on Early Maize from Tehuacán, Mexico. Radiocarbon 31:1035–1040.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacNeish, R. S. 1964 Ancient Mesoamerican Civilization. Science 143:531–537.Google Scholar
MacNeish, R. S. 1986 The Preceramic of Middle America. In Advances in New World Archaeology, Vol. 5, edited by F. Wendorf and A. Close, pp. 93–129. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
MacNeish, R. S. 1992 The Origins of Agriculture and Settled Life. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Miksicek, C. H. 1990 Early Wetland Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands: Clues from Preserved Plant Remains. In Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize, edited by M. Pohl, pp. 295–312. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology and Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Niederberger, C. 1979 Early Sedentary Economy in the Basin of Mexico. Science 203:131–142.Google Scholar
O’Hara, S., Alayne Street-Perrott, F., and Burt, T. P. 1993 Accelerated Soil Erosion Around a Mexican Highland Lake Caused by Prehispanic Agriculture. Nature 362:48–51.Google Scholar
Piperno, D. 1989 Non-affluent Foragers: Resource Availability, Seasonal Shortages, and the Emergence of Agriculture in Panamanian Tropical Forests. In Foraging and Farming. The Evolution of Plant Exploitation, edited by D. Harris and G. Hillman, pp. 538–554. Unwin and Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Piperno, D., Bush, M. B., and Colinvuax, P. A. 1991 Paleoecological Perspectives on Human Adaptation in Central Panama. II. The Holocene. Geoarchaeology 6:227–250.Google Scholar
Piperno, D., and Pearsall, D. 1993 Phytoliths in the Reproductive Structures of Maize and Teosinte: Implications for the Study of Maize Evolution. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:337–362.Google Scholar
Pohl, M., and Bloom, P. 1996 Prehistoric Farming in the Wetlands of Northern Belize: Albion Island and Beyond. In The Managed Mosaic. Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, edited by S. Fedick, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Pohl, M., Bloom, P., and Pope, K. 1990 Interpretation of Wetland Farming in Northern Belize: Excavations at San Antonio Río Hondo. In Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize, edited by M. Pohl, pp. 187–278. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology and Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Pope, K. O., and Dahlin, B. H. 1989 Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: New Insights from Ecological and Remote Sensing Research. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:87–106.Google Scholar
Pope, K. O., and Dahlin, B. H. 1993 Radar Detection and Ecology of Ancient Maya Canal Systems—Reply to Adams et al. Journal of Field Archaeology 20:379–383.Google Scholar
Pope, K. O., Pohl, M. D., and Jacob, J. S. 1996 Formation of Ancient Maya Wetland Fields: Natural and Anthropogenic Processes. In The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, edited by S. L. Fedick. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, in press.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, K. A., Macintyre, I. G., and Prufert, L. 1993 Modern Stromatolite Reefs Fringing a Brackish Coastline, Chetumal Bay, Belize. Geology 21:199–202.Google Scholar
Rogers, D. J. 1963 Studies of Manihot esculenta Crantz and Related Species. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 90:43–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, D. J. 1965 Some Botanical and Ethnological Considerations of Manihot esculenta . Economic Botany 19:369–377.Google Scholar
Rue, D. 1988 Archaic Middle American Agriculture and Settlement: Recent Pollen Data from Honduras. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:177–184.Google Scholar
Rust, W., and Leyden, B. W. 1994 Evidence of Maize Use at Early and Middle Preclassic La Venta Olmec Sites. In Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World, edited by S. Johannssen and C. A. Hastorf, pp. 181–202. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology and Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Rust, W., and Sharer, R. 1988 Olmec Settlement Data from La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico. Science 242:102–104.Google Scholar
Sauer, C. O. 1941 The Personality of Mexico. Geographical Review 31:353–364.Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 1980 Water, Soil, and Seasonality in Early Cereal Cultivation. World Archaeology 11:313–328.Google Scholar
Siemens, A. H. 1982 Prehispanic Agricultural Use of Wetlands of Northern Belize. In Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston, edited by K. V. Flannery, pp. 205–225, Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sisson, E. B. 1970 Settlement Patterns and Land Use in the Northwestern Chontalpa, Tabasco, Mexico: A Progress Report. Ceramica de Cultura Maya 6:41–54.Google Scholar
Stapor, F. W. Jr., Mathews, T. D., and Lindfores-Kearns, F. E.. 1991 Barrier-Island Progradation and Holocene Sea Level History in Southwest Florida. Journal of Coastal Research 7:815–838.Google Scholar
Stuvier, M., and Reimer, P. J. 1993 Radiocarbon Calibration Program Rev. 3.0.2. Radiocarbon 35:215–230.Google Scholar
Talma, A. S., and Vogel, J. C. 1993 A Simplified Approach to Calibrating C14 Dates. Radiocarbon 35:317–322.Google Scholar
Turner, B. L. II, and Harrison, P. D. (editors) 1983 Pulltrouser Swamp: Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize. University of Texas Press, Austin. Google Scholar
van der Merwe, N. 1994 Isotopic Bone Chemistry and the Diets of the Maya. Paper presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Anaheim, California.Google Scholar
Vaughan, H., Deevey, E. S., and Garrett-Jones, S. 1985 Pollen Stratigraphy of Two Cores from the Peten Lake District. In Prehistoric Lowland Maya Environment and Subsistence Economy, edited by M. Pohl, pp. 73–89. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Vol. 77. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Vogel, J. C., Fuls, A., Visser, E., and Becker, B. 1993 Pretoria Calibration Curve for Short Lived Samples. Radiocarbon 35:73–86.Google Scholar
Voorhies, B., Michaels, G., and Riser, G. 1991 Ancient Shrimp Fishery. National Geographic Research 7:20–35.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R., and Langham, E. J. 1965 Measurement as Means of Identifying Fossil Maize Pollen. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 92:7–20.Google Scholar
Willey, G. R., and McGimsey, C. R. 1954 The Monagrillo Culture of Panama. Papers of the Peabody Museum, Vol. 49, No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Wiseman, F. 1990 A Late Holocene Record of Agricultural Activity in the Maya Lowlands. In Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize, edited by M. Pohl, pp. 312–322. University of Minnesota, Department of Anthropology and Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Wood, G. 1990 Excavation at OP. 4046, Colha, Belize: A Buried Preceramic Lithic Deposit. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, R. 1984 A Summary Report on Three Seasons of Field Investigations into the Archaic Period Prehistory of Lowland Belize. American Anthropologist 86:359–369.Google Scholar