Jon Lohse

UPLAND AGRICULTURE IN THE MAYA LOWLANDS: ANCIENT MAYA SOIL CONSERVATION IN NORTHWESTERN BELIZE*

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 todays tropical forests and burning milpas.