Effects of Rainfall Patterns on the Distribution and Prevalence of Earthen Terraces

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Geoarchaeology and Environmental Archaeology Perspectives on Earthen-Built Constructions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Earthen agricultural terraces are prevalent worldwide and have continued to be built and used for millennia. Yet relative to their stone-faced counterparts, earthen terraces are often characterized as less intensive and productive, requiring less time, labor, and material resources to construct and maintain and likewise producing lower yields. While the validity of these claims necessarily varies and depends on the specific characteristics of any context, the general question of why farmers may invest in earthen rather than stone terraces remains pertinent, as much for the present as for the past. Aside from time, labor, and material costs, environmental considerations are essential to consider, particularly with respect to water availability. Looking at annual rainfall patterns, this paper draws on Donkin’s 1979 catalogue of agricultural terracing in the Americas to investigate how rainfall quantity and seasonality relate to the distribution and prevalence of earthen terraces. While rainfall quantity is essential for agriculture in general, I predict that the seasonality of rainfall leads to structural considerations that help determine whether earthen or stone-faced terraces are more suitable for certain environments. This work is conducted in Google Earth Engine and shows the potential of cloud-based geospatial platforms for conducting large-scale comparative environmental studies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Advances in Geoarchaeology and Environmental Archaeology Perspectives on Earthen-Built Constructions   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39220.0