Wetland Agriculture in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4489901
AutoresAlfred H Siemens (autor de correspondencia)
Año1983
Volumen73
Número2
Páginas166
Fecha de publicación1983-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/214642
OpenAlexW2328131352
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas28

U NTIL the late 1960s the swidden thesis was the usual explanation for preHispanic Mayan subsistence.1 By that time archaeological research in the Mayan-occupied lowlands indicated higher population densities than could be accounted for by shifting cultivation and its ancillary activities. Investigators provided other options, including the exploitation of root crops, the use of the nut from the ramon tree, other orchard crops, marine resources, and various forms of intensive agriculture on well-drained land. However, little consideration was given to the supportive potential of wetlands. Wetlands are scattered throughout the tropical lowlands that stretch from Belize to central Veracruz in Mexico (Fig. 1). They were substantial elements in the natural environment of several pre-Columbian cultures: Maya, Olmec, Totonac, and Huastec. Riparian sites in Mesoamerica and elsewhere in the New World have long been recognized as rich in resources for the subsistence of early man and as possible locations for the practice of agriculture.2 Although it was well known that the population of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was in large part sustained by continuous cropping on platforms, or chinampas, built in the swampy margins of nearby lakes, nothing comparable had been reported from the wetlands or the tropical lowlands. Nevertheless, Cultivation of wetlands by the Maya was hypothesized.3 The reports of ridged or drained fields in various South American lowlands prompted air reconnaissance over Mesoamerican lowlands in 1968.4 Numerous wetlands in the basin of the Candelaria River, located in the southeastern section of the Mexican state of Campeche, were scored with configurations that could not have had a natural origin (Fig. 2). Similar features were eventually found throughout northern Belize and in the adjacent Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Investigations on the ground revealed the vestiges of two major types of features. Of greater immediate interest were the planting platforms, each sev

Agriculture · Agroforestry · Archaeology · Biology · Geography · Mesoamerica · Wetland · Ecology · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Environmental Science