Land and Labor, Classic Maya Terraced Agriculture : An investigation of the settlement ecology and intensive agricultural landscape of Caracol, Belize

ISBN-13: 9783639047721 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 428 str.

Timothy Murtha

Opis

This study details the results of survey andexcavation of settlement and intensive agriculturalterracing at the site of Caracol, Belize. Caracol,situated in the heart of the Maya lowlands in westernBelize was one of the largest and most politicallyactive cities in the Ancient Maya world. A greaterthan 400 year political history is recorded in theancient monuments, detailing wars, conflict, and thebirths and deaths of rulers. Guided by this history,this study investigates the intensive agriculturallandscape of Caracol in an effort to betterunderstand the temporal and spatial dynamics ofpopulation pressure and intensive agriculturethroughout the classic period (AD 250 - 750). Byrelying on traditional archaeological survey andexcavation, Geographic Information Systems andcomputer simulation, the study also evaluates therole of massive landscape transformations in thegrowth and eventual collapse of Caracol.

O autorze

Timothy Murtha completed his PhD in Anthropology from Penn State
University in 2002. He has participated in and directed
archaeological and anthropological research in North
America, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Orkney, Scotland for the
last 15 years.