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

Conclusions

The early results of the excavations of the agricultural terraces at the Chan site demonstrate several important facets of Maya agriculture as practiced by small-scale farmers in the hinterlands. First of all, the ceramics as well as the multiple construction episodes of the structure and the terraces show that agricultural intensification in the form of terraces occurred earlier than the Late Classic population expansion. Although this finding is neither surprising nor unprecedented (suggested by the early dates for raised field agriculture), it is the first evidence of early construction for agricultural terraces.

Secondly, this long-term occupation and the deep knowledge of the landscape through the utilization of underground water sources and natural topography show a strong and loyal commitment to the area. The farmers at Chan were not latecomers to this area, but rather had been there for generations, maintaining their agricultural practices for years.

As Smith and Price (1994) demonstrate in their work on agricultural terraces in Aztec period Morelos, agricultural intensification in the form of terraces can occur at the household level, rather than at a larger, state-wide level. This, I believe, is precisely what the farmers at Chan have done. The slow, accretional construction process and the deep knowledge of the landscape indicate a household (or at least community) level of intensification. The distance from any large centers at the time of initial construction of the terraces also suggests that whatever was the stimulus to creating the agricultural terraces, was most likely an inside process rather an influence exterior to the community. This suggestion corresponds to the relatively decentralized nature of the Maya region in general.

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