The Agricultural Landscape at La Playa

Summary

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 identified Early Agricultural period site in the southwest United States/northwest Mexico, La Playa is a key case study in understanding the development of early agricultural technology in a dynamic region. At least 3 km2 of the site is a vast agricultural landscape that includes earthen canals, field grids, and water diversion features constructed on the silty floodplain of the Boquillas River, all in various stages of destruction or threat of destruction due to rapid erosion of the relict floodplain. Following the end of the Early Agricultural period, geomorphically unstable conditions on the floodplain led to the abandonment of the irrigation system. Although there is no evidence of intensive agricultural practices after this time, people continue to occupy La Playa in the following centuries, creating new earthen canals and possibly reusing and expanding the ancient canals.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 13,000 Years of Adaptation in the Sonoran Desert at La Playa, Sonora   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37747.0