Recent investigations at the coastal spring site of Wawakiki in southern Perú have identified an intensive, late pre-Hispanic agricultural production strategy along a sea cliff some 30 km north of the Ilo River. Excavations identified buried stone-faced agricultural terraces underlying Spanish colonial and post-colonial furrows, and long irrigation canals that transported water along steep hill slopes from inland springs. Depositional patterns, cultural debris, and calibrated radiocarbon age ranges suggest the site was farmed most intensively between A.D. 1200 and 1400, a period characterized by prolonged highland drought and recurrent El Niño-induced floods in southern Perú. Farmers transformed this arid coastal promontory into a productive agricultural landscape by exploiting multiple spring sources, steep canals, and stone-faced terraces in an area where water is a very limited commodity and steep barren hills are highly prone to erosion. Furthermore, high-relief terrain left much of the agricultural infrastructure well protected from periodic floods.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Agriculture in prehispanic Mesoamerica necessitated not only a wide range of knowledge regarding soil types, fertility, and the growing cycles of different plants, but also the attendant rituals that firmly situated agrarian production into a shared Mesoamerican worldview. Due primarily to archaeological visibility, those attendant rituals have traditionally been investigated within the context of large centers. Recent investigations at the site of Quincunx, a hinterland architectural complex in northwestern Belize of the Maya Lowlands, provide evidence that some rural communities may also have had access to and control over esoteric knowledge involved in agricultural practice in the Late Classic period. Ourfindings are discussed in the context of ethnographic accounts and archaeological data that reveal the deep significance of quincuncial designs in Maya society and Mesoamerican ritual practices.La agricultura en Mesoamdrica prehispdnica no necesitaba solamente el conocimiento de los tipos de suelo, la fertilidad, y los ciclos de crecimiento, sino tambidn los rituales acompaiiados que establecieron la produccic'n agricola en una cosmovisidn comutn entre los mesoamericanos. Principalmente por su visibilidad en el registro arqueolcdgico, las investigaciones sobre esos rituales se han restringuido a los centros mds grandes de los mayas. Investigaciones recientes del sitio de Quincunx, un complejo arquitectdnico en el campo del noroeste de Belice, presentan evidencia que algunas comunidades rurales pudieran tener acceso y control sobre el conocimiento esotdrico con respecto a la agricultura durante el periodo Cldsico Tardio. Parece que era importante en varios niveles la ubicacidn y configuracidn Utnica del complejo de Quincunx a los poblados circundantes. Su plano arquitect6nico de cinco estructuras con infasis en intercardinalidad imita las concepciones del cosmos que existen entre muchas comunidades actuales e hist6ricas de los mayas. Se discuten nuestras conclusiones dentro del contexto de cuentos etnogrdficos y datos arqueol6gicos que revelan el significado profundo de los disefios quincunciales en la sociedad maya. successful, sustained agricultural production in prehispanic Mesoamerica necessitated a wide range of knowledge regarding soil types, fertility, regulation of moisture levels, and the growing cycles and requirements of many subsistence and economic crops. Yet, the component of ancient agricultural behavior that is probably least understood by archaeologists involves the attendant rituals that were deeply embedded in a worldview focused to a very large degree on the cosmos, marking the cyclical passage of time, and defining the role of living people in relation to th...

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Landscapes represent a dynamic point of articulation between humans and the environment. While often dichotomized, humans are active participants in the environment and often play a pivotal role in its transformation over time. In this paper, we use case studies from western South America and Australia to illustrate the importance of studying long-term dynamics between humans and the environment. Such investigations can bring significant historical depth to environmental change and the role humans have played in altering courses of landscape evolution and species biodiversity. Humans comprise a critical element in environmental change, and collectively, our results hold strong implications for issues related to sustainability and effective management of our planet's desert resources.

Construction histories of ancient Maya monumental centers have long been used to interpret the growth and decline of Lowland Maya polities. Changes in the built environment at monumental centers reflect labor appropriation by ruling elites and may indirectly serve to gauge changes in political clout over time. Consequently, the precision and accuracy with which archaeologists measure these changes take on increased importance when assessing the ancient Maya political landscape. Recent excavations in the monumental core of La Milpa, Belize, have generated new data that call for a re-assessment of the center's historical trajectory. Our data indicate that La Milpa had a larger Late Preclassic foundation, likely grew much more incrementally through the Classic period, and persisted centuries longer than previously understood. The apparent persistence of occupation into the tenth century a.d. challenges the traditionally accepted dates for La Milpa's abandonment, and, the ceramic sequence upon which it is often based.