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28 results

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  • Water uncertainty, ritual predictability and agricultural canals at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

  • Vernon L. Scarborough, Samantha G. Fladd, Nicholas P. Dunning, Stephen Plog, Lewis A. Owen, Christopher Carr, Kenneth B. Tankersley, Jon-Paul McCool, Adam S. Watson, Elizabeth A. Haussner, Brooke Crowley, Katelyn J. Bishop, David L. Lentz, R. Gwinn Vivian
  • Journal: Antiquity / Volume 92 / Issue 364 / August 2018
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 August 2018, pp. 870-889
  • Print publication: August 2018
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  • The Pueblo population of Chaco Canyon during the Bonito Phase (AD 800–1130) employed agricultural strategies and water-management systems to enhance food cultivation in this unpredictable environment. Scepticism concerning the timing and effectiveness of this system, however, remains common. Using optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments and LiDAR imaging, the authors located Bonito Phase canal features at the far west end of the canyon. Additional ED-XRF and strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) analyses confirm the diversion of waters from multiple sources during Chaco’s occupation. The extent of this water-management system raises new questions about social organisation and the role of ritual in facilitating responses to environmental unpredictability.

  • Identifying ‘plantscapes’ at the Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén, El Salvador

  • Alan Farahani, Katherine L. Chiou, Anna Harkey, Christine A. Hastorf, David L. Lentz, Payson Sheets
  • Journal: Antiquity / Volume 91 / Issue 358 / August 2017
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 August 2017, pp. 980-997
  • Print publication: August 2017
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  • The Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén is extraordinary in that it was preserved by volcanic ash following the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption. The excellent preservation conditions offer a unique opportunity to understand plants in their primary use contexts, and to examine geospatial relationships between plants—both living and curated—in gardens, fields and households. The geospatial analysis of ‘plantscapes’ at Cerén presented here provides a template for interpreting botanical resource use and management at other contemporaneous Maya sites, and can contribute to a broader understanding of the use of space, plants and agriculture in the past.

  • A New Radiocarbon Sequence from Lamanai, Belize: Two Bayesian Models from One of Mesoamerica’s Most Enduring Sites

  • Jonathan A Hanna, Elizabeth Graham, David M Pendergast, Julie A Hoggarth, David L Lentz, Douglas J Kennett
  • Journal: Radiocarbon / Volume 58 / Issue 4 / December 2016
  • Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2016, pp. 771-794
  • Print publication: December 2016

  • The ancient Maya community of Lamanai, Belize, is well known for its span of occupation from the Early Preclassic (before 1630 BC) to the present. Although most centers in the central and southern Maya Lowlands were abandoned during the Terminal Classic period (AD 750–1000), ceramic and stratigraphic evidence at Lamanai has shown continuous occupation from the start of the Early Preclassic to the Spanish Conquest. In this paper, we present the first complete set of radiocarbon dates from this important site, including 19 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dates. We use these dates to build Bayesian models for a Terminal Classic structure and an Early Postclassic structure in the site center. This method assists in the refinement of older, conventional dates and provides key chronological information about the site during this volatile time. Adjustments to the standard, uniform distribution model are made using exponential, long-tail, and trapezoidal distributions to incorporate outlier samples and more accurately portray ceramic phases. Because of changes in construction behavior in the Terminal Classic, it is difficult to acquire primary samples from this period, but there remains enough overlap between dates and ceramic phases to deduce persistent occupation at Lamanai during the transition from Late Classic to Postclassic times.

Tikal
  • Paleoecology of an Ancient Maya City
  • Edited by David L. Lentz, Nicholas P. Dunning, Vernon L. Scarborough
  • Published online: 05 February 2015
  • Print publication: 23 February 2015
  • The primary theoretical question addressed in this book focuses on the lingering concern of how the ancient Maya in the northern Petén Basin were able to sustain large populations in the midst of a tropical forest environment during the Late Classic period. This book asks how agricultural intensification was achieved and how essential resources, such as water and forest products, were managed in both upland areas and seasonal wetlands, or bajos. All of these activities were essential components of an initially sustainable land use strategy that eventually failed to meet the demands of an escalating population. This spiraling disconnect with sound ecological principles undoubtedly contributed to the Maya collapse. The book's findings provide insights that broaden the understanding of the rise of social complexity - the expansion of the political economy, specifically - and, in general terms, the trajectory of cultural evolution of the ancient Maya civilization.

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