Timothy Beach

Arising from the Bajos: The Evolution of a Neotropical Landscape and the Rise of Maya Civilization

The conjunctive use of paleoecological and archaeological data to document past human-environment relationships has become a theoretical imperative in the study of ancient cultures. Geographers are playing leading roles in this scholarly effort. Synthesizing both types of data, we argue that large karst depressions known as bajos in the Maya Lowlands region were anthropogenically transformed from perennial wetlands and shallow lakes to seasonal swamps between 400 bc and ad 250. This environmental transformation helps answer several questions that have long puzzled scholars of Maya civilization: (1) why many of the earliest Maya cities were built on the margins of bajos, (2) why some of these early centers were abandoned between 100 bc and ad 250, and (3) why other centers constructed elaborate water storage systems and survived into the Classic period (ad 250 –900). The transformation of the bajos represents one of the most significant and long-lasting anthropogenic environmental changes documented in the pre-Columbian New World.

Soil Erosion, Slope Management, and Ancient Terracing in the Maya Lowlands

A puzzling aspect of Prehispanic soil erosion and sedimentation in the Maya Lowlands is the variation noted between different regions. In the Petexbatun region of Guatemala, recent investigations indicate great variation in sedimentation rates between watersheds of digerent sizes. In some places, soil erosion was slowed by stone terraces, possibly in conjunction with other conservation methods. A review of the surheial geology and other data on terraces from across the Maya Lowlands indicates that variations in the form and distribution of ancient agricultural terracing was probably the result of environmental variability and population pressure largely during the Late Classic period.

Kax and kol: Collapse and resilience in lowland Maya civilization

Episodes of population loss and cultural change, including the famous Classic Collapse, punctuated the long course of Maya civilization. In many cases, these downturns in the fortunes of individual sites and entire regions included significant environmental components such as droughts or anthropogenic environmental degradation. Some afflicted areas remained depopulated for long periods, whereas others recovered more quickly. We examine the dynamics of growth and decline in several areas in the Maya Lowlands in terms of both environmental and cultural resilience and with a focus on downturns that occurred in the Terminal Preclassic (second century Common Era) and Terminal Classic (9th and 10th centuries CE) periods. This examination of available data indicates that the elevated interior areas of the Yucatán Peninsula were more susceptible to system collapse and less suitable for resilient recovery than adjacent lower-lying areas.

THE PALEOECOLOGY AND ANCIENT SETTLEMENT OF THE PETEXBATUN REGION, GUATEMALA

The Petexbatun region has a series of upland ridges surrounded by lowland wetlands. In Preclassic times, ancient Maya peoples began colonizing the region along waterways. Although few in number, they cleared large areas of upland tropical forest for agriculture and induced significant soil erosion. Population contracted in the region during the Early Classic, and mature tropical forest growth returned. During the Late Classic, population expanded rapidly across the region, forest clearance resumed, and desirable, intensively cultivated, upland areas were divided by an elaborate wall system. Upland agriculture during the Late Classic included the use of several types of terracing that significantly checked soil erosion during this period. Considerable variation may have existed between the urban agriculture practiced in the regions three major centers—Dos Pilas, Tamarindito, and Aguateca. A central theme in the scholarly study of the ancient Maya has always concerned the balance between land resources and human population. In the Petexbatun region of Guatemala this general theme helped us to pose several interrelated questions. What were the environmental factors that influenced the ancient Maya occupation of the Petexbatun region? What were the environmental impacts of ancient Maya settlement? What was the nature of ancient Maya agriculture in the region? How did these factors interplay with the regions documented history of Late Classic warfare? These are among the major questions that guided the investigations of the Ecology subproject of the Vanderbilt University Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project between 1990 and 1995. This article discusses some of the chief findings of the subproject, focusing primarily on issues of environmental change and on ancient agricultural systems.

Human-environment interactions in a tropical watershed : The paleoecology of Laguna Tamarindito, El Petén, Guatemala

AbstractQuestions of past human-environment interactions are best addressed by a research agenda that recovers complementary archaeological and paleoenvironmental data. We have used such an approach in our investigations at Laguna Tamarindito, a small lake located in the SW part of the Peten rainforest of Guatemala. In 1991, a sediment core was taken from the lake as part of a larger program of research examining the history of human-environment interactions in the Petexbatun region. We employ a conjunctive analytic approach to interpret the core, including archaeological survey of the lakes watershed, physical and chemical analysis of sediments, palynology, and molluscan ecology. Our analysis of this core reveals substantial paleoecological information about the past 10,000 years in this region. Study of the lake sediments, pollen, and gastropod populations indicates variation in regional climate, including two periods of significant drying. Changes in the rate of sediment at ion in the lake can be rela...

In search of an ancient Maya market

Market economies are notoriously difficult to identify in the archeological record. This is particularly true in the subtropical Maya lowlands of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize because most utilitarian items and consumables were made of highly perishable materials. We explore the hypothesis that ancient marketplaces can be identified through analysis of chemical residues in soils from open and easily accessible spaces in and about ancient Maya cities. We compared soil chemical signatures from a credible ancient marketplace location in the specialized trade center of Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico to those from a modern marketplace at Antigua, Guatemala. We found extraordinarily high concentrations of phosphorus and zinc in the soil of Chunchucmils proposed marketplace and the same high concentrations correlate well with food preparation and vegetable sales areas at the modern marketplace. These methods hold promise in resolving the vexing question of how large ancient Maya urban populations were sustained.

Temple mountains, sacred lakes, and fertile fields: ancient Maya landscapes in northwestern Belize

Forty-three years later these words still ring true, but are too seldom followed (Fedick 1996). For several years, we have been engaged in a multidisciplinary programme of research in northwestern Belize and neighbouring areas of Guatemala, eliciting a comprehensive, integrated picture of changing ancient Maya landscapes (Scarborough & Dunning 1996; Valdez et al. 1997). Our goals include a reconstructive correlation of environmental and cultural history, including the relationship between changes in water and land management and political economic organization. This work is still in progress and our understanding is far from complete (Dunning & Scarborough 1997).

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.

SOIL CATENAS, TROPICAL DEFORESTATION, AND ANCIENT AND CONTEMPORARY SOIL EROSION IN THE PETéN, GUATEMALA

The Petexbatun region of Guatemalas Peten tropical forest lowlands has been largely deforested since the early 1980s as landless peasants have turned even national parks into milpas. The soils of these tropical forest, karst landscapes are known mainly from small-scale maps and archaeological investigations. This paper investigates soil catenas and natural slope processes from the regions last virgin tropical forests and compares these with catenas and processes on slashed and burned slopes. Soils were sampled and analyzed for physical, fertility, and taxonomic measures. This primary forest toposequence forms a typical downward translocation catena, with the thickest soils (>200 cm) in depressions, the thinnest soils on shoulder slopes, and moderately thin soils on the crests and backslopes. Most crest and sloping soils are Lithic Rendolls and contain simple O-A-C horizon sequences, and most soils have little sign of either eluviation or illuviation. A few deeper soils on the slopes are Vertic Rendolls ...

Soil constraints on Northwest Yucatán, Mexico: Pedoarchaeology and Maya subsistence at Chunchucmil

The soils and subsistence of ancient Maya Chunchucmil in northwestern Yucatan are the focus of this paper. Today and historically, the population and crop yields here have been very low. Archaeological field work, however, has shown the Late Classic site to be highly populated with densely packed walled mound and field groups. It is enigmatic that this high ancient Maya population existed in a region of meager crop and soil potential. This enigma is addressed by investigating contemporary Maya agriculture, geoarchaeological evidence, and soil potential for intensive agriculture. The local Maya soil classification of kancab and boxluum synthesizes the Alfisols, Inceptisols, and Mollisols described here. The major soil limitations are shallowness, broad areas with no soil, insufficient water holding capacity, and variable deficiencies in phosphorous, potassium, and zinc. Evidence for intensive agriculture and alternative crops can be seen in widespread field walls compartmentalizing the landscape, sascaberas, and preliminary phosphate fractionation signatures. q 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. INTRODUCTION Studying potential agricultural productivity and forms of intensification to ad- dress the riddle of high ancient Maya populations is keenly important to both ar- chaeology and tropical agricultural development. In the Maya Lowlands historical populations have been very low and agricultural methods very extensive, but some prehistoric populations are estimated to have been very high for hundreds of years. The conditions for agriculture in these tropical lowlands present many challenges, and this poses the basic question of how did ancient Maya high populations feed themselves. This article approaches this question by analyzing the soil potential around the current village of Chunchucmil, Yucatan (Figure 1), Mexico, which lies in the midst of a large site dating mainly from the Maya Late Classic (A.D. 550 - 830). Ironically, this site must have been both very densely populated and also one of the Maya worlds most limited agricultural environments. This article first re- views the archaeological landscape and environmental and agricultural history of the region. Second, based on field and laboratory testing, the article describes soil diversity and fertility in the geoarchaeological context of each environmental zone. Lastly, it explores the potential for alternative crops and intensive agriculture.