Water Management and Irrigation (Other Keyword)
1-25 (71 Records)
This is an abstract from the "The Past, Present, and Future of Water Supplies" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The western United States has experienced dramatic population growth for the past century and a half and fluctuating water resources even longer. For example, there is increasing evidence that people began diverting water from Utah’s streams and rivers during the Fremont period (ca. AD 1–1300). As early as 2,000 years ago, the Ancestral...
The Agricultural Landscape at La Playa (2024)
This is an abstract from the "13,000 Years of Adaptation in the Sonoran Desert at La Playa, Sonora" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The La Playa site is a compelling example of large-scale anthropogenic modification within a landscape of change through deep time. The development of irrigation technology and agricultural intensification in the Sonoran Desert was deeply entwined with changing climatic and geomorphic conditions. As the largest...
Aguadas of the Bajo el Laberinto Region: Form, Distribution, and Biocultural Importance (2024)
This is an abstract from the "New and Emerging Perspectives on the Bajo el Laberinto Region of the Maya Lowlands, Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Aguadas are permanent or temporary water reservoirs distributed throughout the Elevated Interior Region (EIR). These wetlands have formed complex ecosystems that are essential for the survival of many species and are sometimes the only source of fresh water for animal and human communities in the...
Ancient Inscriptions and Climate Change: A Study of Water Management at the Ancient Capital of Bagan, Myanmar (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Current State of Archaeological Research across Southeast Asia" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bagan was an authoritative capital as well as a cosmological and ritual epicenter of Theravada Buddhism for the Classical Burmese Empire during the eleventh to fourteenth centuries CE. Integral in the Buddhist belief system is the notion of merit; achieved through good deeds or donations to the Buddhist Church. This...
Around the Neighboring Watering Hole: Comparative Analysis of Fountains in Pompeii and Herculaneum (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Water and Sanitation Management in the Mediterranean " session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Substantial urban development is linked to the first century CE in Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as throughout the Bay of Naples. An important component of this development included the construction of the Aqua Augusta, or Serino Aqueduct as it is known today. The associated lead pipe network supplied pressured water for private...
Automated Detection of Gridded Canal Networks in Veracruz, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The ancient peoples of Classic Period Veracruz employed a suite of strategies for agricultural intensification aimed at increasing agricultural yields and managing seasonal rainfall. One common strategy involved the construction of gridded canal networks with alternating raised field platforms which drained water in the wet season and retained it in the dry...
The Bajada Canals of the Safford Basin, Southeastern Arizona: Excellence in Prehistoric Engineering (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Exceptionally well-engineered prehistoric canals have been disclosed near the city of Safford, Arizona. Within an area of roughly 450 square kilometers, 12 distinct canal systems, comprised of 41 canals, have been identified originating in the bajada (foothills) of the Pinaleño Mountains. Conveying water from mountain runoff and springs, the longest canal is...
Beyond the Birds of Paradise: A Geoarchaeological Investigation of Large Ancient Maya Linear Wetland Features (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Wetlands" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Growing scholarship since the 1980s has focused on ancient Maya–wetland interactions after raised field agriculture was revealed in northern Belize. From this, mounting evidence indicates extensive reliance on seasonal and perennial wetlands for ancient Maya farming, aquaculture, and water retention across the region. These systems would have served as major...
Big, Bigger, Biggest: Investigating Aguadas 1–3 at Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico (2024)
This is an abstract from the "New and Emerging Perspectives on the Bajo el Laberinto Region of the Maya Lowlands, Part 1" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Calakmul is known to be one of the largest ancient Maya urban centers in the Elevated Interior Region of the Maya Lowlands. Thus, it is not surprising that in this water-challenged environment, the population of Calakmul invested in some of the region’s grandest reservoirs. While limited...
Coastal Hydrogeological Context of Potable Water Sources of the Vista Alegre Maya Port Site, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (2018)
Ongoing investigation at the ancient Maya port site of Vista Alegre has revealed a multi-phased and significant occupation spanning the Preclassic to Postclassic periods. However, the vital source of potable water that would have supported this coastal settlement remains unknown. We present a hydrogeological assessment of the region to understand changing water sources over the last 2 millennia. Potential groundwater foci at the intersections of conjugate fracture sets are presently either...
Collective Action, Transport Costs, Watercraft Technologies, and the Engineered Ancestral Landscapes of Southern Florida (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Negotiating Watery Worlds: Impacts and Implications of the Use of Watercraft in Small-Scale Societies" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Watercraft technologies have a long history in southern Florida. Archaeologists have recovered large vessels but historic documents also describe the Calusa utilizing complex ships able to transport large numbers of people. In addition to the sizable amount of labor that the people of...
Confluences: Canals, Wetlands, and Agroecosystems of the Ancient Maya in Northwestern Belize (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Wetlands" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Wetlands played a crucial role in the subsistence methods of early complex polities, including the ancient Maya. The scale of canal development in the Birds of Paradise wetland field complex reflect the status, technological power, and agronomic wealth that wetlands provided to the ancient Maya in this region during the Maya Late Preclassic to the...
Cultural Settlement and Water Management Strategies at Holtun, Guatemala (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Holtun: Investigations at a Preclassic Maya Center" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Water management is intrinsically associated with the development and support of complex societies. Water was a significant source of power among the ancient Maya. Although traditional research characterizes water management as homogeneous and monolithic, recent studies show that it was highly variable and adapted accordingly. The case...
Detection of Water Management Systems Using LiDAR at Las Abejas, Belize (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2016, the PfBAP (Programme for Belize Archeological Project) employed airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) remote sensing technology to map the project area in northwestern Belize. The PfBAP has used LiDAR data to detect and analyze anthropogenic modifications created by the ancient Maya. With this data in hand, we have generated a map with which to...
The Development of Hydroelectric Power over Ancestral Land in Chilean Patagonia (2018)
Chile is largely reliant on fossil fuels for energy and is working to transition to more renewable energy sources, specifically hydroelectric power. As part of this initiative, the state is proposing the construction of five hydropower dams in southern Chile. In this paper, we analyze the potential impact of this project on the ancestral land of the Mapuche. The Mapuche have been resisting the modern Chilean state’s approach to water and power and are fighting for land rights and the...
The Early Agricultural Period at La Playa, Mexico, A Geoarchaeological Investigation (2018)
La Playa (SON F:10:3), in Sonora, Mexico, has the remains of an irrigation canal system associated with the Early Agricultural period (2100 B.C.-A.D. 50), a period characterized by the development of agriculture in the southwest United States and northwest Mexico. Satellite imagery analysis and magnetic gradiometry surveys covering over 53,000 m2 of the site, document almost 8,700 m2 of agricultural fields, 15 km of irrigation canals, and over a dozen circular structures. Irrigation canals were...
Early Agricultural Practices at La Playa, Sonora, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Geoarchaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This poster presents results from geoarchaeological research on earthen irrigation canals at La Playa (SON F:10:3), in Sonora, Mexico. La Playa’s agricultural field system is associated with the Early Agricultural period (2100 B.C. – A.D. 50), which is characterized by the development of agriculture in the southwest United States and northwest Mexico. A combined dating...
El sistema de desagües del Juego de Pelota de Monte Albán (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Avances en los estudios de la arquitectura de Monte Albán" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La recolección y almacenamiento de agua pluvial es una de las prácticas más antiguas en Mesoamérica. La investigación arqueológica en diversos sitios ha permitido la identificación y documentación de depósitos subterráneos, depósitos a cielo abierto, almacenamiento en recipientes y más común el sistema de desagües. En Monte Albán...
Evolving Hohokam Irrigation Strategies at La Plaza: A Multidisciplinary Approach (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Hohokam irrigation canals were first excavated in the lower Salt River Valley in the early Pioneer Period (A.D. 1-700), possibly as early as A.D. 200 at Las Acequias in east Tempe. In the area, substantial expansion occurred in the Sedentary Period (A.D. 900-1150) and continued into the Classic Period (A.D. 1150-1450). During this time, Canal Tempe was a...
Examining the Concept of Hinterland in Antiquity in Arid Regions of the Levant Using Archaeobotanical Data and GIS Analysis (2018)
Studies concerning the size of agricultural hinterlands in antiquity have generally been conducted on sites with favorable climates and have become the standard comparative tool. However, little has been examined relating to the size of a settlements hinterland in arid environments even when excellent archaeological evidence for extensive agricultural production, as can be seen in southern Jordan and Israel during the Roman and Byzantine periods. Likewise, a disproportionate focus has been...
A Failure of Imagination: North Coast Peruvian Irrigation under Spanish Colonial Rule (2024)
This is an abstract from the "The Archaeology of Failure" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ethnohistoric documents describe the north coast as a verdant, irrigated landscape at the time of Spanish conquest; yet, only a few decades later, colonial archives are filled with legal disputes over water rights, water shortages, and the desertification of farmland. Cataclysmic demographic collapse caused by the introduction of European diseases accounts for...
Filled to the Brim: Estimating Lowland Maya Reservoir Capacities by Combining Survey, Soil Cores, and GIS (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. One of the limiting factors to settlement aggregation in the Maya lowlands is the availability of potable water. With few perennial surface rivers and lakes, the ancient Maya collected water from rainfall for consumption. In areas with high population densities, such as Classic period cities, this required engineering the built landscape to funnel water for...
Four Thousand Years of Disaster, Vulnerability, and Resilience in the Lower Yellow River, China (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Equity in the Archaeology of Disaster, Past, Present, and Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For the past 4,000 years, humans have assaulted the environments of the lower Yellow River Valley. For millennia this region has been an entirely cultivated and (mis)managed anthropogenic landscape. Indeed, the lower Yellow River is called the “river of sorrow” and flows through a land of famine. At the same time, though,...
Geoarchaeological Investigations of Wetlands and Waterways in Crooked Tree, Belize (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and the History of Human-Environment Interaction in the Lower Belize River Watershed" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The lagoon system around the island of Crooked Tree in northern Belize provides a compelling hydrological landscape with a strongly seasonal flood regime. The area also presents evidence of long occupation and use by the Maya. Our ongoing investigations include geoarchaeological testing...
Geomorphic Framework Development for Willamette Valley Reservoirs to Support Cultural Resources Management (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Future Directions for Archaeology and Heritage Research in the Willamette Valley, Oregon" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. High-head, multipurpose dams and reservoirs constructed in the 1940–1960s in the Willamette Valley encompass a diverse array of landscapes utilized by humans for thousands of years. These reservoirs overlap numerous cultural sites that are subject to dynamic erosion and deposition processes....