Ancestral Maya domesticated waterscapes, ecological aquaculture, and integrated subsistence

Bibliographic Data

ID6033971
AuthorsJoel Palka (0000-0002-0905-2048, Arizona State University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume35
Issue1
Pages208-236
Publication date2024-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAncient Mesoamerica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0956-5361 • E-ISSN: 1469-1787
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0956536122000402
OpenAlexW4362469093
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited68

Ancestral Maya engineered wetland fields and canals in floodplains for plant cultivation and water management. Canals and reservoirs, however, also provide aquatic resources to supplement agriculture. Maya created multi-trophic ecological aquaculture by modifying the waterscape to increase the amounts of foods and useful materials, such as fish, turtles, waterfowl, and reeds. While archaeological and ethnographic investigations across the Maya area explore aquatic constructions, technology, and foodstuffs, they have not focused on aquaculture. In the western Maya lowlands, including the site of Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico, ancestral Maya modified floodplains around lakes and rivers for farming fish and aquatic resources near their settlements and fields. These extensive modifications for ecological aquaculture enhanced the productivity and resiliency of natural ecosystems. The domesticated waterscapes near the ritually important Mirador Mountain at Mensabak also followed pan-Mesoamerican beliefs in origin mountains that generated water, plants, and fish for humans. Importantly, Maya integrated subsistence is illuminated by research on domesticated landscapes and ecological aquaculture that examines a range of resources rather than just plants. Certainly across Mesoamerica, ecological aquaculture allowed people to intensify production of “farms” of aquatic species, particularly fish

Agriculture · Aquaculture · Archaeology · Biology · Domestication · Fish · Fishery · Floodplain · Geography · Maya · Subsistence agriculture · Wetland · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Fish biology, ecology, and behavior · Ecology

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