Gardens, Infields and Outfields: Cultivation Intensity, Neotropical Landscapes and the Evolution of Early Agricultural Systems

Summary

Plant cultivation in and around residential locations and at greater distances from settlements are options early cultivators employed, supplemented by wild resources, to meet subsistence needs. The mix of plants, soils and cultivation practices varied by environment, distribution of resources, population density and other factors. This paper examines the role of gardens over the long transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in tropical lowland environments. Ethnographic data, derived from a sample of neotropical contexts, are used to evaluate some of the earliest evidence (micro- and macrobotanical, isotopic and archaeological) for maize and other crops in lowland Mesoamerica.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21336