The Morphology of Agricultural Terraces in the Kumaon Himalayas

The Morphology of Agricultural Terraces in the Kumaon Himalayas Joel M. Andress* A developing interest in cultural geography in recent years has been the study of agricultural landforms. Much of what has been published deals with terraces, the most familiar example of this class of phenomena.1 Less familiar forms also have recently come to light.2 These features, especially terraces, are often conspicuous elements of the landscapes of their localities, and even when long abandoned and defunct they are durable artifacts that may provide clues to past modes of ecological interaction and to local settlement history . Much detailed study of this whole group of forms remains to be done before origins, routes of diffusion, methods of construction, and modes of use are adequately explained. • Dr. Andress is an associate professor of geography at Central Washington State College, Ellensburg 98926. This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers at Santa Cruz in June 1970. Field research for this study was supported by the Foreign Field Research Program conducted by the Division of Earth Sciences, National Academy of Sciences —National Research Council and financed by the Geography Branch, Office of Naval Research, under contract Nonr-2300(09). 1 The literature dealing specifically with terraces and terracing in traditional agriculture is meager. Among examples contributed by geographers are: Chris Field, "A Reconnaissance of Southern Andean Agricultural Terracing," unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 1966; J. W. MacNab, "Cultivation and Field Form on Three Japanese Islands," Geographical Review, Vol. LX, No. 2, (1970), pp. 176-191; J. E. Spencer and G. H. Hale, "The Origin, Nature, and Distribution of Agricultural Terracing," Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 6, No. 1, (1961), pp. 1-40; Paul Wheatley, "Agricultural Terracing," Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 6, No. 2, ( 1965), pp. 123-144. The following article, by a pedologist, is a comment on the article by Spencer and Hale: A. C. S. Wright, "Some Terrace Systems of the Western Hemisphere and Pacific Islands," Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 3, No. 1, (1962), pp. 97-101. 2 James J. Parsons and William A. Bowen, "Ancient Ridged Fields of the San Jorge Floodplain," Geographical Review, Vol. LVI, (1966), pp. 317-343; James J. Parsons and William M. Deneven, "Pre-Columbian Ridged Fields," Scientific American, Vol. 217, No. 1, (1967), pp. 92-100; Gene Wilken, "DrainedField Agriculture: An Intensive Farming System in Tlaxcala, Mexico," Geographical Review, Vol. LIX, No. 2, (1969), pp. 215-241. ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS -CT-SJ-------f—7=5 AFgh. TIBET h PAKiSTAN (West) r'BURMA. rabian Figure 1. The Kumaon Region, Central Himalayas The terraces discussed here are located in hilly and mountainous terrain in the Indian Himalayas in a region just west of Nepal known historically as Kumaon (Figure 1). The inhabited areas extend in elevation from near 3,000 feet along the base of the southern foothills to about 5,500 or 6,000 feet. Little of this surface is anywhere near horizontal; local relief is considerable, sometimes great. Except for cultivated land the hills and mountains are covered by a variety of vegetation formations including coniferous forests of pine and deodar , deciduous forests of oaks, and deforested hillsides of grasses and scattered shrubs. The climate is monsoonal; rainfall averages 100 inches annually, three-fourths coming June to September. The resident occupants of these hills are Hindu peasant farmers whose livelihood is based partly on field crops of wheat, barley, rice, amaranth, several millets, and assorted legumes and partly on livestock husbandry of cattle, buffaloes, and goats. The region as a whole YEARBOOK · VOLUME 34 · 19729 has been settled for many centuries though some localities were settled in rather recent times. One of the first impressions gained by even a casual visitor is that a great deal of the land surface has been physically remodeled into agricultural terraces. And while an experienced observer would also notice extensive vegetation changes of human origin, still the terraces by their sheer number and conspicuousness remain the most striking element of the cultural landscape. Almost inescapably one's attention is drawn to them. Early observation reveals that the terraces differ in sources of moisture, kinds of crops typically grown on them...