Connecting archaeology and ecology in northwest Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ancient Maya Landscapes in Northwestern Belize, Part I" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Some archaeologists believe that a key to the success of ancient Maya civilization was sophisticated tailoring of agriculture and forestry to varied environments. Some archaeologists and ecologists also think that ancient forestry is reflected in the tree species composition of modern forests. Based on studies in northwest Belize we suggest, first, that correlations among modern, landscape-level variation in soil, slope, and forest types show clear potential for sophisticated management. Second, we suggest that ancient Maya alteration of soil and slope by construction, agriculture, and erosion has broadly affected the forest that regrew on the ancient landscape. Third, we think studies to date that attempt to link modern forest composition to ancient forest management are flawed or open to interpretation, or show local effects on composition, at most. We present a framework for research on the effects of ancient land use on the modern Maya forest, including: 1) studying more post-conquest documents for information on historical Maya forestry, 2) systematic sampling for ancient plant remains along environmental gradients, 3) ground and remote-sensing studies to link tree species and forest types to landscape variation, and 4) "species distribution modeling" to compare likely composition of pre-ancient Maya forest with post-ancient Maya forest.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ancient Maya Landscapes in Northwestern Belize, Part I   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24311