Excavations on Agricultural Terraces: Results of the 2004 Field Season at Chan, Belize

Discussion

Preliminary analyses of the excavations of the agricultural terraces at Chan illuminate several important aspects of ancient Maya agriculture as practiced by farmers in the hinterlands. First of all, the structure and terraces in this area show a lengthy occupation. The structure located on the terraces shows at least five different construction episodes, with final abandonment occurring during the Late to Terminal Classic, and the earliest construction of the springhouse built at least previous to the Late Classic (Wyatt 2004). The structure has always been associated with the hillslope agricultural terraces, as demonstrated by the simultaneous use of the spring as feeding the basin in the springhouse as well as irrigating the terrace beds nearby. As the structure was rebuilt, the terraces were also rebuilt to accommodate the reconstruction. The nearby terrace transect also reveals multiple construction episodes in the terrace walls through the partial dismantling of an earlier wall construction located on the later terrace bed. Initial analysis of the ceramics from this buried terrace wall indicates a date also previous to the Late Classic.

What this shows us is that terraces were being constructed prior to the Late Classic population explosion, contrary to accepted theories of agricultural intensification. Theories of least-effort are often utilized to explain the development of intensive agriculture in many parts of the world (Boserup 1965). Only when problems such as a population increase or a lack of land assert themselves will farmers turn from extensive agricultural practices, such as slash-and-burn, to more intensive forms such as irrigation, raised fields, or terraces. Archaeologists have applied this to the Maya area to explain the existence of terraces as a response to the increase in population during the latter half of the Late Classic. Prior to the Late Classic, it is believed, Maya farmers practiced extensive milpa agriculture in fields away from their households, keeping house gardens nearby to supply some vegetables, spices, and herbs.

But raised and channelized fields located in Northwestern Belize dating to the Preclassic (Turner and Harrison 1983), as well as the terraces at Chan, indicate that all intensive agriculture is not necessarily associated with the Late Classic. The farmers at Chan, therefore, constructed agricultural terraces without the apparent impetus of population pressure.

What, then, caused them to expend the effort to create these terraces? One possibility may have been the need to create more food for larger nearby centers, such as Xunantunich. Another possibility may be that constructing and maintaining these agricultural terraces was not necessarily perceived as a greater expenditure of labor than swidden agriculture. Terrace construction at Chan indicates an accretional process, rather than a temporally concentrated effort such as a major irrigation work, and is reflected in agricultural terraces in other parts of the world (Donkin 1979; Smith and Price 1994). The style of terrace construction also suggests that maintenance may have been kept at a minimum due to the greater durability of the 45º angled walls. Given that clearing forests for swidden agriculture would have been accomplished with stone tools, the Chan farmers may have concluded that the slow construction and upkeep of the terraces was less labor intensive than clearing a patch of forest every several years.

The Maya farmers at Chan also demonstrate a deep knowledge of the topography and hydrology of the area, indicative of their lengthy tenure at the site and their investment in the landscape. First of all, many of the drainage and irrigation features are constructed with the natural uplift of the bedrock, taking advantage of the inherent features of the site. Both the irrigation/drainage channel and the irrigation features below the terrace wall adjacent to the structure are constructed at a 50º northeast angle, the natural direction of the flow of the water. This angle does not necessarily follow the slope of the hillside and would have been visible only through the removal of topsoil to the bedrock and careful observation of the flow of water.

The hydrology of the area as well would only have been understood and controlled through long-term observation and use, especially the underground spring located on the terrace bed to the west of the structure. This and the use of the spring located behind the structure show a lengthy and deep-seated investment in the landscape.

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