Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community

4. Agricultural Practices at Chan: Farming and Political Economy in an Ancient Maya Community

4 Agricultural Practices at Chan Farming and Political Economy in an Ancient Maya Community Andrew R. Wyatt The mosaic of ecological zones in the Maya area supported a variety of agricultural technologies that were spatially and temporally unique (Fedick 1996b; Graham 1987). Agricultural practices among the ancient Maya ranged from relatively large-scale wetland modifications, such as the creation of raised fields in low-lying swampy areas and along rivers, and the cultivation of bajos and bajo margins; extensively terraced hillsides; milpas and orchards; and small-scale gardens near households (Adams 1982; Dunning and Beach 1994; Fedick 1994; Harrison 1978; Healy et al. 1983; Matheny 1978; Pohl 1990; Siemens and Puleston 1972; Turner 1983; Turner and Harrison 1983). In many areas they often utilized several of these technologies at once, capitalizing on different ecological zones present in a comparatively limited area (Kunen 2004). This diversity contrasts with early hydraulic civilizations that were dependent upon large-scale irrigation systems for the majority of their agricultural production (Adams 2006; Butzer 1976; Oates and Oates 1976; Wittfogel 1957) and suggests a different relationship between agricultural producers and the political economy. These techniques represent what are commonly defined as intensive agriculture. Agricultural intensification is the process of deriving greater production from the same amount of land or maintaining production levels in the face of ecological degradation. This is accomplished through increases in labor and skills, through the creation of agro-engineering features , or through a combination of the two. Brookfield (1972: 32) defines intensification quite succinctly when he writes that “in regard to land, or to any natural resource complex, intensification must be measured by inputs only of capital, labor, and skills against constant land. The primary purpose of intensification is the substitution of these inputs for land, so as to gain more production from a given area, use it more frequently, and hence make 72 · Andrew R. Wyatt possible a greater concentration of production.” In the Maya area, agricultural intensification is most often confirmed by the presence of large-scale agro-engineering features, such as raised fields, modified wetlands, and terrace walls. It is agricultural terracing, the most visually evident and numerous evidence of agricultural intensification in the Maya area, that I focus on in this chapter. In particular, I discuss the chronological development of terrace agriculture, the pattern of terraces and mounds on the landscape, the water control features encountered on the terraces, and the artifacts recovered on the terrace beds. Extensive excavations recovered an unprecedented level of data, permitting the development of a model of the history of terrace agriculture at Chan, demonstrating how the terraces were cultivated, and reconstructing the relationship of Chan farmers to nearby sites. These data show that terraces predate the rise of the nearby polity capital of Xunantunich and that the construction of the terraces and the cultivation on the terrace beds demonstrate household-level control, rather than centralized management by distant elites. Terrace Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands Although the Maya lowlands are comparatively flat, there are extensive areas of undulating terrain and even relatively steep hillsides suitable for agricultural terracing. Thousands of hectares in the Rio Bec region (Turner 1983), the Maya Mountains (Murtha 2009), the Petexbatún (Beach and Dunning 1995; Dunning and Beach 1994), the Belize River valley (Fedick 1994), the Vaca Plateau (A. Chase and D. Chase 1998; Healy et al. 1983; Pollock 2007), the Three Rivers region (Hageman and Lohse 2003; Kunen 2004; Lohse 2004), and the Maya highlands (Guzman 1958; Mathewson 1984) have been transformed through the adoption of agricultural terraces. Of all the different techniques for intensifying agriculture, the construction of agricultural terraces appears to predominate throughout the Maya area. Many researchers have suggested that terraces were constructed in the Late Classic in order to meet the rising demands of tribute as well as a burgeoning population (Dunning, Beach, and Rue 1997; Leventhal and Ashmore 2004; Turner 1978). In their discussion of the origins of complex Maya political systems, Adams and Culbert (1977: 6) state that “the specific defining features of Lowland Maya Civilization are . . . the achievement of high-density, permanent rural populations at least in the Late Classic . . . by means of labor-intensive farming. . . . Management of these techniques Agricultural Practices at Chan · 73 and of the population was a function of the elite class.” In the Rio Bec region , where hundreds of acres of terraced hillsides are found, Turner (1983: 118) states that “the implementation...