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Land Evaluation and Ancient Maya Land Use in the Upper Belize River Area, Belize, Central America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Scott L. Fedick
Scott L. Fedick*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
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Abstract

In this study I examine local-scale associations between land resources and the density distribution of Maya residential sites for the prehistoric population maxima of the Late Classic period (ca. A. D. 600-900). Methods involve agricultural land evaluation following USDA guidelines, under assumptions of hand-cultivation technology. I give specific attention to the issue of concordance between the geographic scale of household agricultural production and the scale at which agricultural land evaluation is conducted. The focus is the upper Belize River area of Belize, Central America, where intensive archaeological survey and local-scale land-resource mapping provide the data necessary for a detailed analysis of ancient land-use patterns. The analysis reveals a strong and consistent relationship between prehistoric Maya settlement density and the agricultural productive capability of local soil types. For each land type, I discuss the amount of land available for each residential locus and probable cultivation methods used. I argue that the ability to identify clearly and quantitatively the association (or lack of association) between household settlement pattern and agricultural land capability is a necessary component of regional studies that seek to test models of Maya political economy and social change.

En este estudio examino las asociaciones a escala local entre los recursos de la tierra y la densidad de distribución de sitios residenciales mayas para la máxima población del período Clásico Tardío (ca. 600-900 D. C.). Los métodos incluyen la evaluación de la tierra cultivada según los lineamientos del USDA (Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos), bajo el régimen de la tecnología de cultivo manual. Doy atención específica al problema de la concordancia entre la escala geográfica de producción a nivel de cada casa-habitación y la escala a la que se conduce la evaluación de la tierra. El foco es el área en la parte superior del Río Belice en América Central donde el mapeo del reconocimiento arqueológico intensivo y los recursos de la tierra a escala local proporcionan los datos necesarios para un análisis detallado de los antiguos patrones del uso del suelo. El análisis revela una relación fuerte y consistente entre la densidad de asentamiento maya y la capacidad de productividad agrícola de los tipos locales de suelo. Discuto la cantidad de tierra disponible para cada localidad residencial y los métodos sugeridos de cultivo para cada tipo de suelo. Propongo que la habilidad para identificar clara y cuantitativamente la asociación (o falta de ella) entre el patrón de asentamiento por casa y la capacidad de la tierra agrícola es un componente necesario de los estudios regionales que buscan probar modelos de la economía política maya o el cambio social.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1995 , pp. 16 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1995

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References

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