Recent research in the Maya Lowlands has revealed substantial new evidence for the first pottery ... more Recent research in the Maya Lowlands has revealed substantial new evidence for the first pottery producers at about 1000-600 bc, during the early Middle Preclassic period. This comparatively late adoption is a special case in Mesoamerica, where pottery appeared elsewhere up to a millennium earlier. Although archaic lifeways had long been established in the region, and pottery technology was likely known to some archaic communities, these new data reveal the complex set of circumstances that prompted the shift to ceramic production across the Yucatan Peninsula, Peten, and Belize. This article reviews these data from the perspective of the upland region of central and southern Yucatan, known as the Elevated Interior Region (EIR). Its rather complex early settlement links the EIR to contemporary pottery industries throughout the peninsula, suggesting well-established exchange systems were in place even as the first populations chose to settle more permanently on the landscape. Most significant among these cultural shifts was the increasing dependence on maize foodways as a primary subsistence strategy. Intensive maize agriculture has not been documented in Mesoamerica much before 1000 BC, yet ceramic technology was adopted independent of its use in other areas. Current evidence suggests, however, that the two were linked in the Maya Lowlands, where a relatively rapid transition took place as horticultural communities became more dependent on maize crops, followed waterways to settle more permanently on the landscape, and began producing pottery locally.
ABSTRACT This paper examines physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and sediments... more ABSTRACT This paper examines physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and sediments from landforms in eastern Antigua, West Indies, to better understand the long-term consequences of colonial plantation agriculture for soil health. Plantation farming played a central role in the history of Caribbean societies, economies, and environments since the seventeenth century. In Antigua, the entire island was variably dedicated to agricultural pursuits (mostly sugarcane monoculture) from the mid-1600s until independence from the United Kingdom in 1981, when most commercial cultivation ceased. Today’s soilscapes are highly degraded, although it is unknown what the role of the island’s plantation legacy has played in this process. Our research combines geoarchaeological survey and sampling, sediment core analysis, and historical archival research to model the initial and cumulative impacts of the plantation industry on the island. We focus on the region surrounding Betty’s Hope, the island’s first large-scale sugarcane plantation in operation from 1674 to 1944. We find that current erosion and degradation issues experienced by today’s farmers are not attributable to intensive plantation farming alone, but rather are part of a complex mosaic of human-environmental interactions that include abandonment of engineered landscapes.
Etude des caracteristiques architecturales, de l'habitat, de l'organisation urbaine et de... more Etude des caracteristiques architecturales, de l'habitat, de l'organisation urbaine et de l'histoire culturelle du site maya de Siho (Mexique) en particulier, et de la region du nord-ouest du Yucatan en general.
Page 1. 273 Intensive Surface Collection of Residential Clusters at Terminal Classic Sayil, Yucat... more Page 1. 273 Intensive Surface Collection of Residential Clusters at Terminal Classic Sayil, Yucatan, Mexico Thomas W. Killion University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio ... function. Our research at Sayil in the northern lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula (FIG. ...
Aguadas, either natural or human-made ponds, were significant sources of water for the ancient Ma... more Aguadas, either natural or human-made ponds, were significant sources of water for the ancient Maya.Aguadasare common features in the Maya Lowlands and make valuable locations for collecting archaeological and paleoenvironmental data. This article discusses research conducted at fouraguadasaround two adjacent Maya sites, San Bartolo and Xultun in Peten, Guatemala. Both San Bartolo and Xultun were established during the Preclassic period. However, the fates of the two sites differed, as Xultun continued to prosper while the city of San Bartolo was abandoned near the close of the Late Preclassic period. We argue thataguadasprovide important clues for understanding the fate of these two ancient communities and many others in the Maya Lowlands.
Abstract Three major Maya centers recently discovered in the northern part of the uninhabited Cal... more Abstract Three major Maya centers recently discovered in the northern part of the uninhabited Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in eastern Campeche, Mexico, provided the first archaeological information obtained in an extensive, formerly unexplored area in the central lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula. Based on ALS (lidar) data, which were acquired for a broader area of 230 km2 and revealed a thoroughly modified and undisturbed archaeological landscape, and on additional information provided by subsequent field surveys and test excavations, we focus on the techniques of water management and agricultural intensification reflected in specific types of landscape modifications. By analyzing their characteristics, distribution and chronology, we discuss their practical functions, which in the region characterized by the lack of permanent water sources were of foremost importance, and further infer the sociopolitical structures involved in their construction and maintenance. We also interpret the significance of these features in Maya worldview and ritual and their role in landscape construction and conceptualization, and show their potential for addressing other fundamental questions of archaeological relevance, including population estimates, settlement dynamics, and the processes that led to the final demise of Classic Maya culture in the central lowlands.
321 Interpreting Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Lessons from the Maya Center of Sayil, Yucatan ... more 321 Interpreting Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Lessons from the Maya Center of Sayil, Yucatan ... community organization. In this manner, large-scale, intensive surface survey at Termi-nal ClassicSayil in the Yucatan, Mexico, has emphasized the dynamic properties ofpast ...
... Indigenous peoples around the world are being displaced from their homelands and forced by di... more ... Indigenous peoples around the world are being displaced from their homelands and forced by different circumstances to pioneer and ... In this region, the people are mostly Kekchi Maya and ladino settlers who have migrated from the highlands of Guatemala and Mexico ...
Recent research in the Maya Lowlands has revealed substantial new evidence for the first pottery ... more Recent research in the Maya Lowlands has revealed substantial new evidence for the first pottery producers at about 1000-600 bc, during the early Middle Preclassic period. This comparatively late adoption is a special case in Mesoamerica, where pottery appeared elsewhere up to a millennium earlier. Although archaic lifeways had long been established in the region, and pottery technology was likely known to some archaic communities, these new data reveal the complex set of circumstances that prompted the shift to ceramic production across the Yucatan Peninsula, Peten, and Belize. This article reviews these data from the perspective of the upland region of central and southern Yucatan, known as the Elevated Interior Region (EIR). Its rather complex early settlement links the EIR to contemporary pottery industries throughout the peninsula, suggesting well-established exchange systems were in place even as the first populations chose to settle more permanently on the landscape. Most significant among these cultural shifts was the increasing dependence on maize foodways as a primary subsistence strategy. Intensive maize agriculture has not been documented in Mesoamerica much before 1000 BC, yet ceramic technology was adopted independent of its use in other areas. Current evidence suggests, however, that the two were linked in the Maya Lowlands, where a relatively rapid transition took place as horticultural communities became more dependent on maize crops, followed waterways to settle more permanently on the landscape, and began producing pottery locally.
ABSTRACT This paper examines physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and sediments... more ABSTRACT This paper examines physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and sediments from landforms in eastern Antigua, West Indies, to better understand the long-term consequences of colonial plantation agriculture for soil health. Plantation farming played a central role in the history of Caribbean societies, economies, and environments since the seventeenth century. In Antigua, the entire island was variably dedicated to agricultural pursuits (mostly sugarcane monoculture) from the mid-1600s until independence from the United Kingdom in 1981, when most commercial cultivation ceased. Today’s soilscapes are highly degraded, although it is unknown what the role of the island’s plantation legacy has played in this process. Our research combines geoarchaeological survey and sampling, sediment core analysis, and historical archival research to model the initial and cumulative impacts of the plantation industry on the island. We focus on the region surrounding Betty’s Hope, the island’s first large-scale sugarcane plantation in operation from 1674 to 1944. We find that current erosion and degradation issues experienced by today’s farmers are not attributable to intensive plantation farming alone, but rather are part of a complex mosaic of human-environmental interactions that include abandonment of engineered landscapes.
Etude des caracteristiques architecturales, de l'habitat, de l'organisation urbaine et de... more Etude des caracteristiques architecturales, de l'habitat, de l'organisation urbaine et de l'histoire culturelle du site maya de Siho (Mexique) en particulier, et de la region du nord-ouest du Yucatan en general.
Page 1. 273 Intensive Surface Collection of Residential Clusters at Terminal Classic Sayil, Yucat... more Page 1. 273 Intensive Surface Collection of Residential Clusters at Terminal Classic Sayil, Yucatan, Mexico Thomas W. Killion University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio ... function. Our research at Sayil in the northern lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula (FIG. ...
Aguadas, either natural or human-made ponds, were significant sources of water for the ancient Ma... more Aguadas, either natural or human-made ponds, were significant sources of water for the ancient Maya.Aguadasare common features in the Maya Lowlands and make valuable locations for collecting archaeological and paleoenvironmental data. This article discusses research conducted at fouraguadasaround two adjacent Maya sites, San Bartolo and Xultun in Peten, Guatemala. Both San Bartolo and Xultun were established during the Preclassic period. However, the fates of the two sites differed, as Xultun continued to prosper while the city of San Bartolo was abandoned near the close of the Late Preclassic period. We argue thataguadasprovide important clues for understanding the fate of these two ancient communities and many others in the Maya Lowlands.
Abstract Three major Maya centers recently discovered in the northern part of the uninhabited Cal... more Abstract Three major Maya centers recently discovered in the northern part of the uninhabited Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in eastern Campeche, Mexico, provided the first archaeological information obtained in an extensive, formerly unexplored area in the central lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula. Based on ALS (lidar) data, which were acquired for a broader area of 230 km2 and revealed a thoroughly modified and undisturbed archaeological landscape, and on additional information provided by subsequent field surveys and test excavations, we focus on the techniques of water management and agricultural intensification reflected in specific types of landscape modifications. By analyzing their characteristics, distribution and chronology, we discuss their practical functions, which in the region characterized by the lack of permanent water sources were of foremost importance, and further infer the sociopolitical structures involved in their construction and maintenance. We also interpret the significance of these features in Maya worldview and ritual and their role in landscape construction and conceptualization, and show their potential for addressing other fundamental questions of archaeological relevance, including population estimates, settlement dynamics, and the processes that led to the final demise of Classic Maya culture in the central lowlands.
321 Interpreting Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Lessons from the Maya Center of Sayil, Yucatan ... more 321 Interpreting Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Lessons from the Maya Center of Sayil, Yucatan ... community organization. In this manner, large-scale, intensive surface survey at Termi-nal ClassicSayil in the Yucatan, Mexico, has emphasized the dynamic properties ofpast ...
... Indigenous peoples around the world are being displaced from their homelands and forced by di... more ... Indigenous peoples around the world are being displaced from their homelands and forced by different circumstances to pioneer and ... In this region, the people are mostly Kekchi Maya and ladino settlers who have migrated from the highlands of Guatemala and Mexico ...
In the 1970s scholars began to accept Maya terracing as the manifestation of ancient intensive a... more In the 1970s scholars began to accept Maya terracing as the manifestation of ancient intensive agriculture and large populations. We examine many ancient terraces and berms excavated in the Three Rivers region of Belize, synthesize the geography and suggest the intent of terracing across the Maya Lowlands, and analyze the history of terracing and soil erosion. Terraces occur in several slope positions and diverted and slowed runoff, to build up planting surfaces that could maximize soil moisture. The first accelerated soil erosion occurred during the Preclassic period (1500 b.c.-a.d. 250). Maya terracing started in the Early Classic period (a.d. 250–600) and spread across the Lowlands with the great population expansion of the Late/Terminal Classic period (a.d. 600–900). Thereafter, the Maya would largely forsake terracing. Though abandoned for a millennium, many terraces still function in today's tropical forests and burning milpas.
The Elevated Interior Region (EIR) of the Maya Lowlands posed especially difficult challenges for... more The Elevated Interior Region (EIR) of the Maya Lowlands posed especially difficult challenges for year-round ancient human occupation and urbanization. Accessible surface and groundwater sources are rare and a 5-month dry season necessitated the annual collection and storage of rainwater in order to concentrate human population. Here we review ancient Maya water storage adaptation in the EIR including urban and hinterland reservoirs as well as residential scale tanks and cisterns. Large reservoirs were devised as early as the Middle Preclassic period and continued to be an important adaptation for urban centers in the EIR throughout their occupation. Residential scale tanks and cisterns may also have early origins, though these have been less investigated. Considerable interregional variation existed in water management strategies.
Historia de dos colapsos: Variabilidad ambiental e interrupción cultural en las tierras bajas may... more Historia de dos colapsos: Variabilidad ambiental e interrupción cultural en las tierras bajas mayas nicholas p. dunning a , timothy beach b , liwy Grasiozo sierra c , john G. jones d , david l. lentz e , sheryl luzzadder-beach f , Vernon l. scarborough g , michael p. smyth h An expanding array of data is becoming available on past climate changes affecting the Maya Lowlands region. We examine the strengths and weaknesses of these data sets, both in terms of identifying general trends and specific events. We then use these data to develop a model based on adaptive cycles that addresses both environmental and cultural changes that occurred in the Terminal Preclassic and the Terminal Classic periods in several areas of the Maya Lowlands. In particular, we compare the variable experiences and trajectories of several ancient communities located in the elevated interior region with others situated on lower elevation coastal plains. In general, communities in lower elevation areas proved more resilient to environmental and cultural perturbations than those in the higher elevation interior. Key words: maya lowlands, maya archaeology, paleoclimate. un expansivo ordenamiento de la información sobre los pasados cambios climáticos que afectaron a la región de las tierras bajas mayas se está haciendo disponible. examinamos las fortalezas y debilidades sobre estos conjuntos de datos, tanto para identificar corrientes generales como eventos específicos. posteriormente utilizamos esta información para desarrollar un modelo basado en ciclos adaptativos que tratan de cambios ambientales y culturales que ocurrieron durante los períodos preclásico terminal y clásico terminal en algunas áreas de las tierras bajas mayas. en particular, comparamos las experiencias y trayectorias variables de algunas comunidades antiguas localizadas en la región elevada del interior con otras situadas en elevaciones más bajas de las planicies costeras. en general, las comunidades en las áreas de elevaciones de menor altura probaron tener mayor habilidad de recuperación y adaptación a las perturbaciones ambientales y culturales que aquellas situadas en lugares con mayor altura del interior. Palabras claves: tierras bajas mayas, arqueología maya, paleoclima.
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