Water Management (Other Keyword)
1-25 (35 Records)
This paper assesses the relationship between elements of adaptive capacity of a water management system among six time periods. The archaeological case study, Angkor, Cambodia, was the center of the Khmer Empire for over 600 years (9th-15th centuries CE). During this time, the Khmers developed one of the largest and most complex water management systems in the pre-industrial world. In this paper, I use geographic information system analyses to quantitatively and qualitatively assess six elements...
All Them Ditches: The Spanish Colonial Water Management System of San Antonio de Bexar (2017)
Remnants of one of the largest and most extensive Spanish Colonial acequia water systems in the United States can be found in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. Acequias contributed to the flourishing of the missions and colonial farming settlements in San Antonio de Bexar. This extensive system of ditches redirected water in various parts of present day Bexar County for agricultural and household purposes. At least six principal acequias and numerous secondary branches have been identified with...
Ancient Water Collection and Storage in the Elevated Interior Region of the Maya Lowlands (2016)
The Elevated Interior Region (EIR) of the Maya Lowlands posed especially difficult challenges for year-round ancient human occupation and urbanization. Accessible surface and groundwater sources are rare and a 5-month dry season necessitated the annual collection and storage of rainwater in order to concentrate human population. Here we review ancient Maya water storage adaptation in the EIR including urban and hinterland reservoirs as well as residential scale tanks and cisterns. Large...
Architecture and Hydrology: Defining the Sacred Landscape of the Tayasal Hinterland amid the Shores of Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Hydro-Ecological System of the Maya in Petén, Guatemala" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent lidar survey of the Tayasal Peninsula in the Petén region of Guatemala revealed a collection of residence groups, situated on ridges of higher ground and separated by possible waterways of lower elevation. These suburb-like communities stand 2 km from Tayasal's urban core. They include structure compounds arranged into a...
Common Goods in Uncommon Times: Water, Droughts, and the Sustainability of Ancestral Puebloan Communities in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico (AD 1100-1700) (2017)
The Jemez and Pajarito Plateaus of the Jemez Mountains share similar cultural, environmental, and climatic contexts, yet large Ancestral Puebloan communities of the Pajarito abandoned mesa-tops for lowlands of the Rio Grande during the 16th century while occupations of the Jemez Plateau persisted until the 17th century. Droughts are hypothesized as a driver of depopulation of the Pajarito Plateau, but if so why wasn’t the Jemez abandoned as well? Prehistoric communities built water storage...
The Contributions of Vernon Scarborough: Introductory Remarks (2016)
In this paper I highlight Vern’s career path and contributions, particularly his work on water management and sustainability, and how his other interests, such as dual economy and heterarchy, tie in with the former. I will also focus on how his interdisciplinary approaches have paved the way for applied anthropology on an international level and with global implications.
Evaluating the Sustainability of an Angkor-Period Engineered Landscape at Koh Ker, Cambodia (2015)
Several studies have argued that the collapse of an unsustainable hydraulic network was a major factor in the abandonment of medieval Angkor (~9th to 15th centuries AD) as the capital of the Khmer civilisation. However, Angkor presents us with a great deal of uncertainty due to the spatial and temporal complexity of the archaeological remains. The Angkor-period city of Koh Ker, in contrast, provides the opportunity to study a medieval water management system whose structure and functioning can...
Flood Regimes, Earthworks, and Water Management in the Domesticated Landscapes of The Bolivian Amazon (2018)
Exploitation and control of wetland resources was a major strategy of early sedentary peoples in many areas of the world. In some cases, indigenous knowledge about flood pluses and water dynamics and anthropogenic transformation of waterscapes increased to the point where some wetlands were transformed into domesticated landscapes. Analysis and interpretations of relevant radar (TerraSAR-X, ALOS SAR-X, Sentinel-1), multispectral (Landsat ETM and ETM+, ASTER), DEMs (SRTM, ASTER) satellite and...
A Flow of Ideas: Water Management from an Aguada and into Wetlands (2016)
The approach taken by Vernon Scarborough to the study of water management in the Maya area has been a thorough investigation of the role of water in the formation of both the relationships of people with their environment, and also the impact of water in the organization of people among themselves. While I was a student of Vern Scarborough's from 2003 through 2005, he emphasized three key points in my thinking. The first is an openness to seek is a cross cultural analogy. Secondly, he stressed...
The Flow of Knowledge: Ancient Water Systems and Mentorscapes (2016)
From his initial doctoral work at Cerros in the late 1970s to his most recent investigations in Tikal, Vernon Scarborough’s research goals have consistently used water control as an instrument to better understand social complexity. His research has spanned a period of our own history when more sustainable approaches to growth are desperately needed as access to water is of an ever increasing concern. As his student, now colleague, this paper will highlight how Vernon Scarborough and his work...
Full of Water, Full of life: Water, Sustainability and Built Heritage in the 19th to 21st centuries San Pasquale Valley, Calabria, Italy (2018)
In the early 1800s wealthy landowners were granted or purchased lands in the San Pasquale Valley, located 50 km from the provincial capital of Reggio Calabria in southern Calabria, Italy. Internal migration of farmworkers to establish commercial bergamot, olive, grape, and mulberry orchards in this valley created a large and thriving community of farmworker families in the valley who built the landowners’ villas, the overseers’ and farmworkers’ houses, and the farming infrastructure of wells,...
GIS and Ancient Infrastructure: Modeling Water Distribution from the Aqua Augusta in Pompeii, Italy (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Understanding access and distribution of resources is a key component of archaeological research. Tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be instrumental for modeling and understanding resource use in the ancient world. The incredibly well-preserved remains of ancient Pompeii offer an excellent case study for modeling urban infrastructure...
Heterarchical Entanglement: The Complexity of Maya Water Management (2016)
Many large cities of the ancient Maya, occupied in the Classic Period from 300 to 900 CE, had limited or no access to permanent bodies of water. Instead, these low-density urban centers focused on harnessing the full extent of the seasonal rainfall their tropical environment provided. Previous research has highlighted the complex water management practices of the ancient Maya through their built environment and the sequestration of water into reservoirs (constructed feature sealed with clay or...
In and Out: Initial Investigations from the Palenque Pool Project (2015)
Emblematic of Palenque’s ancient name, Lakamha’ or Big Water, the city is scattered with natural cascades and uniquely constructed aqueducts, bridges, and pools. In May 2014, the Palenque Pool Project began excavating and consolidating the largest of the three pools in the Picota Group, 1 km west of the site center. Prehispanic construction of the feature required the Maya to excavate through bedrock and below the water table. The main pool is equipped with entrance and exit drains as well as a...
In Search of the Spanish Wells: Freshwater Resources and the Florida Keys (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Florida Keys present a unique ecological and archaeological setting in the United States, but one which has traditionally been discounted as too marginal of an environment to support year-round occupation by Indigenous communities prior to colonization. Anecdotal accounts of “Spanish Wells” reliably employed for freshwater during the colonial and early...
Innovations under limitations: A landscape approach to agricultural practices and water management in a frontier zone of medieval South India. (2015)
Agricultural intensification and water management are widely studied in the context of changing political complexity. My research, centered on semi-arid southern India, addresses this theme through a survey of three areas that exemplify the diversity of archaeological sites and trajectories of change in the Raichur region. Irrigation played a significant role in the expansion and intensification of agriculture in this region, achieved through the construction of reservoirs that conserved surface...
Intersite Difference in Distant Interactions, Hohokam Canal System 2, Phoenix Basin, Arizona (2015)
Material evidence of interaction between prehispanic peoples in the U.S. Southwest and Mesoamerica is first detected ca. 2000 BCE with the introduction of maize, figurines, and ceramics. Such markers of long-distance interaction increase in diversity and abundance in later periods, including copper bells, scarlet macaws, and other objects and symbols. These objects and symbols moved up to 2000 km by social actions and mechanisms that remain obscure. Although the Hohokam had the strongest ties to...
Maya Archaeology: Research & Interpretations with Dr. Scarborough (2016)
More than 25 years of collaborative research with Dr. Scarborough has provided for interesting ups & downs in understanding prehistoric Maya activities. Beginning at Cerros, intervening distant research, rejoining at Kinal (Guatemala), and culminating in NW Belize (for now) has allowed for a fascinating journey of archaeological investigations. Presented here are both scientific endeavors as well as events from field activities during nearly three decades of mutual research interests from...
Minor Temple Groups, Water Management and Community Formation at Ceibal, Guatemala (2018)
Recent investigations of reservoirs associated with minor temple groups at Ceibal, Guatemala shed light on the role of water management in intermediate-level sociopolitical organization in ancient Maya society. Over the course of the Late and Terminal Preclassic periods (ca. 350BC-AD200), as Ceibal grew into an urban center, minor temples were built at regular intervals around the site core. These temples were the centers of local communities that were integrated primarily through ritual...
The Palenque Pool Project: Preliminary Investigations into Monumental Construction Costs (2016)
The Palenque Pool Project began excavations of the largest pool of the Picota Group in the Classic Maya site of Palenque in 2014. This group is located one kilometer from the Palace on the western edge of the site. Although the function of the pool is still unknown, its placement adjacent to one of Palenque's two stelae and its similarity to modern Maya examples, suggests ceremonial use. As a part of the 2015 field season samples were taken from two regions that appear to have been limestone...
The Palenque Pool Project: Sourcing the Sand from the Main Picota Pool (2015)
Many sites in the Maya Lowlands relied heavily on water storage features in order to sustain the annual dry season. However, in Palenque the opposite challenge was presented, as there was an abundance of perennial water flowing through the city. Palenque’s ancient name of Lakamha’ or Big Water was indicative of this issue. In response, there were intricate water management systems constructed in order to divert the water underground through aqueducts. In May of 2014, the Palenque Pool Project...
Preclassic Reservoirs and Urbanism at Yaxnohcah, Campeche, Mexico (2017)
The need to collect and store rain water has been proposed as an important urbanizing force during the development of Maya civilization in the Elevated Interior Region on the Maya Lowlands, where surface water is naturally scarce and the dry season lengthy. We present data from Yaxnohcah, Campeche, Mexico indicating that the construction of large reservoirs was an integral part of the development of this urban center in the Middle and Late Preclassic periods. Data collected to date indicate that...
Preliminary LiDAR Analysis and Excavation of Residential Water Features at the Ancient Maya Site of Yaxnohcah, Central Yucatan (2016)
The collection, storage, and management of water was an ongoing challenge—and necessary focus—for the ancient Maya, who occupied a physical environment with a pronounced annual dry season and a general lack of perennial surface water necessary to support and sustain an expansive population. The urban center of Yaxnohcah, located within the central lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, provides an ideal test case for studying how the residents of this important Maya center managed their crucial, and...
Sacred Water Mountains of the Copan Valley: A View from Rastrojon (2016)
The temples and stone monuments of Copan are replete with symbols of water and sustenance, both driving forces in the development of complex society throughout the Maya region and greater Mesoamerica. Like other urban environments, Copan harnessed the power and religious nature of water, mountains, maize, ancestors, and the divine ruler, juxtaposed to their dualistic counterparts of fire and drought, to construct their urban landscape, cosmovision and social structures. Research on ancient water...
Salt Pollution and Climate Change at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico (2016)
In order to determine if the water management systems of ancestral Puebloans caused salt pollution during periods of climatic change and increased aridity, sediment samples were collected from ancient irrigation features and reservoirs in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Today, these features are filled with sediments. Periods of climate change were determined with AMS radiocarbon and OSL dating. Soil salinity was measured using a conductivity cell and plotted against age in order to illustrate changes...