Ancient Maya wetland management in two watersheds in Belize: Soils, water, and paleoenvironmental change

We compare the geomorphology and soil of two ancient Maya wetland agricultural complexes in modern day Belize. This paper focuses on 3000 years of soil geomorphology and paleoecological change to determine the chronology of wetland formation and human use in this region. We also characterize Maya manipulation of the environment over time, especially considering times of ecological or climactic change in the late Holocene. This paper adds to our ongoing research in northwestern Belize, specifically within two recently explored wetland agricultural systems, Neuendorf and Sierra de Agua. Although they are 40 km from one another and in different watersheds, they have similar water chemistry and comparable soil, as well as comparable ancient Maya agricultural field and canal stratigraphy. The Neuendorf wetland fields and associated Maya house mounds and platforms are 1.5 km northeast of the well-studied Chan Cahal residential group/wetland agricultural fields. This ancient Maya settlement zone sits on a small limestone escarpment, about 7-24m above sea level on the Belizean coastal plain. New trenches and vibracores from this wetland complex support our previous models of wetland formation and human use from the Late Preclassic to the end of the Classic. The Sierra de Agua wetland fields, 40 km to the southwest, are associated with a Maya urban center of the same name. This complex is part of the Irish Creek Wetlands within the New River watershed. In this system, the water table rose around 3000 years before present, which resulted in a different type of field building and agricultural modification, similar to the chinampas models of central Mexico. This new and ongoing research contributes new pollen records, soils and geoarchaeology to the growing regional picture of wetland use and change throughout Maya history.