Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:03:03.883Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Water and Land at the Ancient Maya Community of La Milpa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Vernon L. Scarborough ,
Matthew E. Becher ,
Jeffrey L. Baker ,
Garry Harris  and
Fred Valdez Jr.
Vernon L. Scarborough
Affiliation:
School of American Research, P.O. Box 2188, Santa Fe, NM 87504
Matthew E. Becher
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
Jeffrey L. Baker
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
Garry Harris
Affiliation:
Wilson Memorial Hospital, Sidney, OH 45365
Fred Valdez Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Late Preclassic to Classic period (400 B. C.-A. D. 900) Maya community of La Milpa, Belize, has recently revealed an ancient water and land-use system. As demonstrated at other southern Maya Lowland sites, the Maya created a microwatershed to store and convey water during the four months of seasonal drought. In addition to water conservation measures associated with reservoirs, deliberate channelization, diversion weirs, and postulated fields, the importance of rainy-season erosion control is indicated. Given the ancient population densities identified in the Maya area, coupled with the seasonal scarcity of water, we posit a “skill-oriented” economy.

La comunidad maya de La Milpa, Belice, del horizonte Preclásico al horizonte Clásico (400 A. D.-900 D. C.) ha revelado recientemente un antiguo sistema de manejo de agua y tierra. Como se ha demostrado en otros sitios mayas de las tierras bajas meridionales, los mayas crearon una micro-divisoria de aguas para acumular y distribuir agua durante los cuatro meses de sequía. Además de medidas de conservación de agua asociadas con estanques, canalización, presas de desviación y campos de cultivo, se analiza la existencia de control de erosión durante la temporada de lluvias. Dadas la densidades poblacionales antiguas identificadas en el área maya y la escasez estacional de agua, proponemos la existencia de una economía “orientada a la destreza.”

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 98 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1995

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

Adams, R. E. W. 1980 Swamps, Canals, and the Location of Ancient Maya Cities. Antiquity 54:206–214.Google Scholar
Jorge, Angulo V. 1993 Water Control and Communal Labor During the Formative and Classic Periods in Central Mexico. In Economic Aspects of Water Management in the Prehispanic New World, edited by V. L. Scarborough and B. Isaac. Research in Economic Anthropology, Supplement 7. Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Bray, F. 1981 The Rice Economies: Technology and Development in Asian Societies. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. P., and Rice, D. S. (editors) 1990 Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Dahlin, B. H., and Litzinger, W. J. 1986 Old Bottles, New Wine: The Function of Chultuns in the Maya Lowlands. American Antiquity 51: 721–736.Google Scholar
Drennan, R. D. 1988 Household Location and Compact Versus Dispersed Settlement in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. In Household and Community in the Mesoamerican Past, edited by R. R. Wilk and W. Ashmore, pp. 273–293. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Dunning, N. P. 1992 Notes on the Environment and Ancient Agricultural Features at La Milpa and Surrounding Areas, Belize. In Water Management Studies at La Milpa, Belize, by V. L. Scarborough, M. E. Becher, J. L. Baker, G. Harris, and J. D. Hensz, pp. 81–102. Report submitted to National Geographic Society, Grant No. 4595–91. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Dunning, N. P., and Beach, T. 1993 Soil Erosion, Slope Management, and Ancient Terracing in the Maya Lowlands. Latin American Antiquity 5:51–69.Google Scholar
Flannery, K. V. (editor) 1982 Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gliessman, S. R. 1984 An Agroecological Approach to Sustainable Agriculture. In Meeting the Expectations of the Land: Essays in Sustainable Agriculture and Stewardship, edited by W. Jackson, W. Berry, and B. Colman, pp. 160–171. North Point Press, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Gliessman, S. R., Garcia, E. R., and Amador, A. M. 1981 The Ecological Basis for the Application of Traditional Agricultural Technology in the Management of Tropical Agro-Ecosystems. Agro-Ecosystems 7:173–185.Google Scholar
Guderjan, T. H. (editor) 1991 Maya Settlement in Northwestern Belize: The 1988 and 1990 Seasons of the Rio Bravo Archaeological Project. Labyrinthos, Culver City, California.Google Scholar
Harlan, J. R. 1992 Crops and Man. 2nd ed. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Harrison, P. D., and Turner, B. L. II (editors) 1978 Prehispanic Maya Agriculture. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Harrison, P. D., and Turner, B. L. II 1983 Pulltrouser Swamp: Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Healy, P. F. 1983 An Ancient Maya Dam in the Cayo District, Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology 10:147–54.Google Scholar
Justeson, J. S. 1986 The Origins of Writing Systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica. World Archaeology 17:437–458.Google Scholar
Kaufman, T. 1976 Archaeological and Linguistic Correlations in Mayaland and Associated Areas of Meso-America. World A rchaeology 8:101–118.Google Scholar
Kostof, S. 1991 The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meaning Through History. Little, Brown, Boston.Google Scholar
Matheny, R. T. 1976 Maya Lowland Hydraulic Systems. Science 193: 639–646.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matheny, R. T. 1986 Investigations at El Mirador, Peten, Guatemala. National Geographic Research and Exploration 2:332–353.Google Scholar
Matheny, R. T., Hanson, R. D., and Gurr, D. L. 1980 El Mirador, Peten, Guatemala: An Interim Report. Papers No. 45. New World Archaeological Foundation, Provo, Utah.Google Scholar
Matheny, R. T., Gurr, D. L., Forsyth, D. W., and Hauck, F. R. 1983 Investigations at Edzna, Campeche, Mexico, Vol. 1 Part 1: The Hydraulic System. Papers No. 46. New World Archaeological Foundation, Provo, Utah.Google Scholar
Mathews, P. 1992 Maya Hieroglyph Weekend Workbook. Cleveland State University, Cleveland.Google Scholar
McAnany, P. A. 1990 Water Storage in the Puuc Region of the Northern Maya Lowlands: A Key to Population Estimates and Architectural Variability. In Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands, edited by T. P. Culbert and D. S. Rice, pp. 263–284. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Pohl, M. D. (editor) 1985 Prehistoric Lowland Maya Environment and Subsistence Economy. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 77. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pohl, M. D. 1990 Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Puleston, D. E. 1971 An Experimental Approach to the Function of Classic Maya ChuHuns. American Antiquity 36:322–335.Google Scholar
Reina, R. E., and Hill, R. M. II 1980 Lowland Maya Subsistence: Notes from Ethnohistory and Ethnography. American Antiquity 45: 74–79.Google Scholar
Rice, D. S., and Culbert, T. P. 1990 Historical Contexts for Population Reconstruction in the Maya Lowlands. In Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands, edited by T. P. Culbert and D. S. Rice, pp. 1–36. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1983 A Preclassic Water System. American Antiquity 48(4):720–744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1991a A rchaeology at Cerros, Belize, Central America. Vol. III: The Settlement System in a Late Preclassic Maya Community. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1991b Water Management Adaptations in Nonindustrial Complex Societies: An Archaeological Perspective. In Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 3, edited by M. B. Schiffer, pp. 101–154. University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1993a Water Management in the Southern Maya Lowlands: An Accretive Model for the Engineered Landscape. In Economic Aspects of Water Management in the Prehispanic New World, edited by V. L. Scarborough and B. Isaac, pp. 17–69. Research in Economic Anthropology, Supplement 7. Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1993b Topography and Models of Ancient Urban Settlement. Paper presented at the Fifth International and Interdisciplinary Forum on Built Form and Cultural Research, Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1993c Introduction. In Economic Aspects of Water Management in the Prehispanic New World, edited by V. L. Scarborough and B. Isaac, pp. 1–14. Research in Economic Anthropology, Supplement 7. Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1994a Maya Water Management. National Geographic Research and Exploration 10:184–199.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L. 1994b Water Management as a Function of Locational and Appropriational Movements and the Case of the Classic Maya of Tikal. In From Political Economy to A nthropology: Situating Economic Life in Past Societies, edited by C. A. M. Duncan and D. W. Tandy, pp. 105–121. Black Rose Books, Montreal.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L., Becher, M. E., Baker, J. L., Harris, G., and Hensz, J. D. 1992 Water Management Studies at La Milpa, Belize. Report submitted to National Geographic Society, Grant No. 4595–91. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L., Connolly, R. P., and Ross, S. P. 1993 The Pre-Hispanic Maya Reservoir System at Kinal, Peten, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 5: 97–106.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L., Connolly, R. P., and Ross, S. P. 1994 Water Management Studies at Kinal and Adjacent Areas. In The Ixcanrio Regional Archaeological Survey Report, edited by R. E. W. Adams. University of Texas, San Antonio, in press.Google Scholar
Scarborough, V. L., and Gallopin, G. G. 1991 A Water Storage Adaptation in the Maya Lowlands. Science 251:658–662.Google Scholar
Tourtellot, G. III 1993 A critique of the Water Management Hypothesis. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.Google Scholar
Tourtellot, G. III, and Rose, J. 1993 More on Light on La Milpa: Interim Report on the 1993 Season. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.Google Scholar
Tourtellot, G. III, Clarke, A., and Hammond, N. 1993 Mapping La Milpa: A Maya City in Northwestern Belize. Antiquity 67:98–108.Google Scholar
Travspore, Inc. 1993 Report on Palynological Analysis of Core Samples from La Milpa. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Turner, B. L. II 1990 Population Reconstruction for the Central Maya Lowlands: 1000 B.C. to A.D. 1500. In Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands, edited by T. P. Culbert and D. S. Rice, pp. 301–324. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Turner, B. L. II, and Johnson, W. C. 1979 A Maya Dam in the Copan Valley, Honduras. American Antiquity 44:299–309.Google Scholar
Wilken, G. C. 1987 Good Farmers. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Wright, A. C. S., Romney, D. H., Arbuckle, R. H., and Vail, V. E. 1959 Land in British Honduras: Report of the British Honduras Land Use Survey Team. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar