Upland Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands: Ancient Maya Soil Conservation in Northwestern Belize*

Beach, Timothy; Luzzadder–Beach, Sheryl; Dunning, Nicholas P.; Hageman, Jon B.; Lohse, Jon C.

doi:10.1111/j.1931-0846.2002.tb00149.x

Cited by 33 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…They appeared almost at the same time as the rise of agricultural civilization, and then spread to the drier regions of the Mediterranean (Price and Nixon, 2005;Galletti et al, 2013). While massive terracing practices in the Mediterranean region mainly began from the late 14th century during the Renaissance period in the Middle Ages (Nicod, 1990), older terracing practices recorded in the Alpine Region, the Maya Lowlands, the Middle East and sub-Mediterranean areas of Europe, dated back to the Iron Age or even earlier (Dunning and Beach, 1994;Beach et al, 2002;Kuijt et al, 2007;Stanchi et al, 2012). In old England, a terrace was commonly called a "lynch" (lynchet), such as the ancient Lynch Mill (Clark et al, 1967).…”

Section: The Historical Distribution Of Terracingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global synthesis of the classifications, distributions, benefits and issues of terracing

Wei

Chen

Wang

et al. 2016

Earth-Science Reviews

214

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For thousands of years, humans have created different types of terraces in different sloping conditions, meant to mitigate flood risks, reduce soil erosion and conserve water. These anthropogenic landscapes can be found in tropical and subtropical rainforests, deserts, and arid and semiarid mountains across the globe. Despite the long history, the roles of and the mechanisms by which terracing improves ecosystem services (ESs) remain poorly understood. Using literature synthesis and quantitative analysis, the worldwide types, distributions, major benefits and issues of terracing are presented in this review. A key terracing indicator, defined as the ratio of different ESs under terraced and non-terraced slopes (δ), was used to quantify the role of terracing in providing ESs. Our results indicated that ESs provided by terracing was generally positive because the mean values of δ were mostly greater than one. The most prominent role of terracing was found in erosion control (11.46 ± 2.34), followed by runoff reduction (2.60 ± 1.79), biomass accumulation (1.94 ± 0.59), soil water recharge (1.20 ± 0.23), and nutrient enhancement (1.20 ± 0.48). Terracing, to a lesser extent, could also enhance the survival rates of plant seedlings, promote ecosystem restoration, and increase crop yields. While slopes experiencing severe human disturbance (e.g., overgrazing and deforestation) can generally become more stable after terracing, negative effects of terracing may occur in poorly-designed or poorly-managed terraces. Among the reasons are the lack of environmental legislation, changes in traditional concepts and lifestyles of local people, as well as price decreases for agricultural products. All of these can accelerate terrace abandonment and degradation. In light of these findings, possible solutions regarding socio-economic changes and techniques to improve already degraded terraces are discussed.

show abstract

Section: The Historical Distribution Of Terracingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global synthesis of the classifications, distributions, benefits and issues of terracing

Wei

Chen

Wang

et al. 2016

Earth-Science Reviews

214

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore we do not assume that the Maya were adjusting over the short term to fluctuating conditions by consciously guarding against species loss or land degradation, thereby effecting long-term adaptation. There is little doubt, however, that lowland Maya communities-in the past and present-developed resource practices that were adaptive (e.g., Beach and Dunning 1995;Beach et al 2002;Dunning andBeach 1994, 2004a;Dunning et al 2009;Beach 2006, 2009); and the body of literature on Maya soil knowledge and on impacts of agricultural practices continues to grow (e.g. Beach et al 2006;Beach et al 2013;Dunning 1992;Dunning and Beach 2004b).…”

Section: The Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Marco Gonzalez Maya site, Ambergris Caye, Belize: Assessing the impact of human activities by examining diachronic processes at the local scale

Graham

Macphail

Turner

et al. 2017

Quaternary International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research at the Maya archaeological site of Marco Gonzalez on Ambergris Caye in Belize is socio-ecological because human activities have been a factor in the formation and fluctuation of the local marine and terrestrial environments over time. The site is one of many on Belize's coast and cayes that exhibit anomalous vegetation and dark-coloured soils. These soils, although sought for cultivation, are not typical 'Amazonian Dark Earths' but instead are distinctive to the weathering of carbonate-rich anthropogenic deposits. We tentatively term these location-specific soils as Maya Dark Earths. Our research seeks to quantify the role of human activities in long-term environmental change and to develop strategies, specifically Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), that can be applied to environmental impact modelling today. AbstractResearch at the Maya archaeological site of Marco Gonzalez on Ambergris Caye in Belize is socio-ecological because human activities have been a factor in the formation and fluctuation of the local marine and terrestrial environments over time. The site is one of many on Belize's coast and cayes that exhibit anomalous vegetation and dark-coloured soils. These soils, although sought for cultivation, are not typical ‗Amazonian Dark Earths' but instead are distinctive to the weathering of carbonate-rich anthropogenic deposits. We tentatively term these location-specific soils as Maya Dark Earths. Our research seeks to quantify the role of human activities in long-term environmental change and to develop strategies, specifically Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), that can be applied to environmental impact modelling today.

show abstract

“…Steeper hillsides typically have thinner soils and reduced water availability; terraces increase soil depth and water availability, which impacts forest structure [44,75]. Terraces also retain nutrients that would otherwise be leached out of the soil [59,71]. This study identified a significant interaction between slope and elevation on canopy structure (Tables 1 and 2).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Edaphic factors related to topography, i.e., nutrient, water, and light availability, directly influence tree growth [28,29]. Differences in forest structure over terraces can be explained by altered edaphic conditions [55,56,59]. Steeper hillsides typically have thinner soils and reduced water availability; terraces increase soil depth and water availability, which impacts forest structure [44,75].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Quantifying Ancient Maya Land Use Legacy Effects on Contemporary Rainforest Canopy Structure

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human land use legacies have significant and long-lasting ecological impacts across landscapes. Investigating ancient (>400 years) legacy effects can be problematic due to the difficulty in detecting specific, historic land uses, especially those hidden beneath dense canopies. Caracol, the largest (~200 km 2 ) Maya archaeological site in Belize, was abandoned ca. A.D. 900, leaving behind myriad structures, causeways, and an extensive network of agricultural terraces that persist beneath the architecturally complex tropical forest canopy. Airborne LiDAR enables the detection of these below-canopy archaeological features while simultaneously providing a detailed record of the aboveground 3-dimensional canopy organization, which is indicative of a forest's ecological function. Here, this remote sensing technology is used to determine the effects of ancient land use legacies on contemporary forest structure. Canopy morphology was assessed by extracting LiDAR point clouds (0.25 ha plots) from LiDAR-identified terraced (n = 150) and non-terraced (n = 150) areas on low (0°-10°), medium (10°-20°), and high (>20°) slopes. We calculated the average canopy height, canopy openness, and vertical diversity from the LiDAR returns, with topographic features (i.e., slope, elevation, and aspect) as covariates. Using a PerMANOVA procedure, we determined that forests growing on agricultural terraces exhibited significantly different canopy structure from those growing on non-terraced land. Terraces appear to mediate the effect of slope, resulting in less structural variation between slope and non-sloped land and yielding taller, OPEN ACCESS

show abstract

Upland Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands: Ancient Maya Soil Conservation in Northwestern Belize*

Cited by 33 publications

References 38 publications

Global synthesis of the classifications, distributions, benefits and issues of terracing

Global synthesis of the classifications, distributions, benefits and issues of terracing

The Marco Gonzalez Maya site, Ambergris Caye, Belize: Assessing the impact of human activities by examining diachronic processes at the local scale

Quantifying Ancient Maya Land Use Legacy Effects on Contemporary Rainforest Canopy Structure

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About