Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 2): Landesque Capital and Long-term Resource Management Strategies - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Archaeological Research Année : 2023

Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 2): Landesque Capital and Long-term Resource Management Strategies

Résumé

Pre-Columbian food production in the Maya Lowlands was long characterized as reliant on extensive, slash-and-burn agriculture as the sole cultivation system possible in the region, given environmental limitations, with maize as the dominant crop. While aspects of this “swidden thesis” of Maya agriculture have been chipped away in recent years, there has been an underappreciation of the many forms of long-term capital investments in agriculture made by ancient Maya people. Here, we review the last three decades of research that has overturned the swidden thesis, focusing on long-term strategies. We demonstrate long-lasting agricultural investments by Maya people, in social capital including multigenerational land tenure, in cultivated capital including long-lived trees, and in landesque capital including soil amendments and landscape engineering projects, such as terracing and wetland modification.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Fedick et al. 2023 Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands Part 2.pdf (3.39 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Publication financée par une institution

Dates et versions

hal-04229401 , version 1 (05-10-2023)

Identifiants

Citer

Scott L Fedick, Shanti Morell-Hart, Lydie Dussol. Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 2): Landesque Capital and Long-term Resource Management Strategies. Journal of Archaeological Research, In press, ⟨10.1007/s10814-023-09185-z⟩. ⟨hal-04229401⟩
15 Consultations
5 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Mastodon Facebook X LinkedIn More