Agrarian Features, Farmsteads, and Homesteads in the Río Bec Nuclear Zone, Mexico

Bibliographic Data

ID6033482
AuthorsEva Lemonnier (0000-0001-8610-8079, Université Paris Cité, corresponding author), Boris Vannière (0000-0002-6779-6053, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
Year2013
Volume24
Issue2
Pages397-413
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAncient Mesoamerica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0956-5361 • E-ISSN: 1469-1787
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0956536113000242
OpenAlexW2027989580
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited44

With its overall settlement pattern more dispersed than those of other contemporary Maya sites, and many associated land use features still preserved, the spatial layout of the Río Bec nuclear zone (159 ha) leads us to give priority to the hypothesis of a production economy based on infield agriculture. Through a multidisciplinary and multiscalar research strategy, including several geoarchaeological methods developed on three different spatial scales, it is possible to forward a model of territorial occupation and land use for the Río Bec apogee period (a.d.700–850). Geographical and archaeological data, along with chronological and spatial analyses, allow us to reconstruct a built field system made up of distinct agricultural production units. From a socioeconomic perspective, the model suggests that agricultural production was managed at the household scale and that each unit or farmstead was distinct and autonomous from its neighbors

Agrarian society · Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Archaeology · Business · Cartography · Geography · Land use · Multidisciplinary approach · Physical geography · Political science · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Latin American history and culture · Ecology

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access