In this Book
- Gardens of Prehistory: The Archaeology of Settlement Agriculture in Greater Mesoamerica
- Book
- 2010
- Published by: The University of Alabama Press
The prehistoric agricultural systems of the New World provided the foundations for a diverse set of complex social developments ranging from the puebloan societies of the American Southwest to the archaic state polities of Mesoamerica and the Andean region. From the tropical forests of Central America to the arid environments or northern New Mexico, Native American farmers made use of a distinctive set of cultigens and cropping systems that supported—with varying degrees of success—growing populations and expanding economies. Lacking most domesticated animals, so important to the mixed agricultural systems of the Old World, Precolumbian farmers developed intensive and resilient systems of agricultural production. These systems supported large societies of people who altered the landscapes they inhabited and generated a unique archaeological record of the evolution of farming in the New World.
Table of Contents
- Illustrations
- pp. ix-xii
- PART I: Settlement and Agriculture in the Arid Lands of Greater Mesoamerica
- PART II: Artifact Distributions and the Organization of Prehistoric Agriculture: Evidence from Lowland Mesoamerica
- PART III: Prehistoric Cultivation, Landscape Modification, and Chemical Characterization
- PART IV: Summary and Critique
- pp. 263-284
- References
- pp. 285-323
- Contributors
- pp. 325-329
Additional Information
Copyright
1992