Prehistoric Maya Wetland Agriculture and Political Develop- ment in Northern Belize, Central America

在国家科学基金会的支持下，玛丽波尔博士 和她的同事们将进行两个季节的实地考察， 对伯利兹阿尔比恩岛进行多学科研究。 的目标 这项工作是为了了解玛雅文明的发展 在这一地区。 以前的研究表明，在几个 在中美洲的一些地区，史前的人们使用一种形式， 湿田农业。 这涉及到建立系统， 土地被抬高，中间有运河， 作物生产用水量。 这些领域是众所周知的， 存在于阿尔比恩地区。 波尔博士和她的合作者将 使用航空数据来描绘这些特征。 这将是 与实地研究相结合，以提供地面真相。 还将收集土壤芯以追踪变化的地貌 随着时间的推移和考古发掘进行。 On this 在此基础上，应该可以确定环境如何变化 随着时间的推移，农业实践如何相应地改变， 以及这对玛雅社会组织的影响 中美洲的玛雅印第安人发展了复杂的社会 有文字、纪念性建筑和中央政治 等级制度。 他们能够在热带地区生存， 今天，它只支持非常小的人口。 考古学家希望 去了解这些群体是如何生存的 导致了如此复杂文明的出现 的证据 在阿尔比恩岛可以观察到这样的发展。 的 保存完好的古代农业遗迹， 这里的水资源丰富， 考古研究使这里成为研究 这样的问题。 波尔认为海平面的波动 导致农民被迫投资 在他们的领域增加劳动力。 这反过来又使他们 移动的较少，最终依赖于精英军事力量 来保护这些改良过的土地 这项研究将使 让我们来评估这个假设。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。 将加大 我们对复杂社会如何发展和提供 玛雅考古学家感兴趣的数据。 也是 技术创新，因为它使考古利用 先进的地理信息系统。 希望它能 为今后在其他领域开展工作树立榜样。 最后 对玛雅农业的深入了解可能会证明 用于发展第三世界地区的新农业技术。

With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Mary Pohl and her colleagues will conduct two field seasons of multidisciplinary research on Albion Island, Belize. The goal of the work is to understand the development of Mayan civilization in this area. Previous work has demonstrated that in several regions of Middle America, prehistoric peoples have used a form of wet field agriculture. This involved building systems of raised fields with intervening canals which provided the right amount of water for crop production. Such fields are known to exist in the Albion region. Dr. Pohl and her collaborators will use aerial data to delineate such features. This will be combined with research on the ground to provide ground truth. Soil cores will also be collected to trace changing landforms over time and archaeological excavations conducted. On this basis, it should be possible to determine how environment changed over time, how agricultural practices were altered accordingly, and how this affected Mayan social organization. The Mayan Indians of Middle America developed complex societies with writing, monumental architecture and centralized political hierarchy. They were able to subsist in tropical areas which can today support only very small populations. Archaeologists wish to understand both how these groups subsisted and what processes led to the emergence of such complex civilizations. Evidence of such a development can be observed on Albion Island. The exceptional preservation of remains from ancient agriculture in water-logged conditions there, together with a wealth of previous archaeological research, makes this an ideal place to examine such issues. Pohl believes that fluctuations in sea level were responsible for changes in which farmers were forced to invest additional labor in their fields. This, in turn, made them much less mobile and ultimately dependent on elite military strength for protection of these improved lands. This research will allow her to evaluate this hypothesis. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of how complex societies develop and provide data of interest to Mayan archaeologists. It is also technologically innovative since it makes archaeological use of an advanced Geographic Information System. Hopefully, it will serve as a model for future work in other areas. Finally, the insights gained into Mayan raised field agriculture may prove of use in developing new agricultural techniques third world areas.