Hydro-Social Transformations and Economic Realities at Aventura, Belize

Summary

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.

This paper presents legacies of water supplies at the Maya site of Aventura, in northern Belize. During its ancient occupation, Aventura was a city with ample water resources integrated into its settlement. Access to this water was not restricted by economic status as local political ecology was organized heterarchically. In 1848, refugees of the Caste War in Mexico established small villages in the area. Oral histories indicate that water was managed at the household level, as people grew rice and fished in waterlogged landscape. By the end of the 19th century, the landscape had dried out due to a combination of deforestation and sugar cane monoculture, both fueled by colonial interests. Today, sugar cane fields dominate Aventura, except where the land remains too wet for this “thirsty crop” to thrive. These legacies make for complex heritages: while local NGOs seek to revitalize Maya agricultural ceremonies, livelihoods remain intricately entwined with the colonial sugar cane industry. By examining these diverse historical contexts and their reverberations, the water supplies at Aventura demonstrates how intricate ecological, political, and economic dynamics continue to shape the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Past, Present, and Future of Water Supplies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38333.0