Mary Deland Pohl - Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize

Olga Stavrakis and Elden Johnson, then Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, proposed that I put together this volume on Ro Hondo Project research. They made Dennis Puleston's notes and materials available to me and arranged for funding of the publication.

Money for a field trip to Belize in 1980 came from a Title XII Strengthening Grant and the International Agriculture Programs of the College of Agriculture, University of Minnesota, and from Florida State University. Florida State University and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc., provided financial support for analyses of the data.

Kent Mathewson reviewed the entire manuscript and made valuable contributions, especially to . Eileen Flory, Janet Walters, Bill Parker, and Regula Russelle did drafting for the report, and Chris Faust produced photographs of their work. Deb Dale Jones typed the manuscript and provided editorial and layout aid. Pete Howe printed the final text, and K. Cranford did drafting and paste-ups for camera-ready copy. Alice Fisher and Terry Johnson proofread the manuscript. Dean Birkenkamp, Libby Barstow, and Kellie Masterson saw the manuscript through at Westview Press. Cover illustration reproduced by permission of Michael Coe and Dumbarton Oaks.

I made considerable progress on this volume while on a Tinker Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 1982 and 1983. Herb Wright of the Department of Geology was my senior consultant during those years, providing me with many insightful ideas. Bill Larson, Chairman of the Department of Soil Science, made work space available to me, and the Department of Anthropology also provided me with facilities. Edna Boyce gave me a home during extended stays in Minneapolis.

Special thanks are due to Paul Bloom, whose insights were crucial to making sense of the history of wetland cultivation on Albion Island.

Mary DeLand Pohl

Ball, Joseph W. Department of Anthropology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182

Bloom, Paul R. Department of Soil Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108

Bradbury, J.P. U.S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey, Box 25046 Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225

Bryant, W. Anthony U. S. Department of Interior, Geological Survey, Box 25046 Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225

Buttleman, Cynthia Division of Minerals, Department of Natural Resources, State of Minnesota, 2115 Beach Road NE, Bemidji, Minnesota 55601

Coffin, Barbara Ann Department of Natural Resources, State of Minnesota Research and Policy Section, Box 11 Centennial Office Building, St. Paul, Minnesota 55155

Covich, Alan P. Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

Dahlin, Bruce H. Department of Anthropology, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20059

Forester, R. M. US. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, Box 25046 Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225

Hansen, Barbara Colena Spross The Pollen Connection, 402 South 6th Street, Stillwater, Minnesota 55082

Hester, Thomas R. Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712

Lewenstein, Suzanne M. c/o Exchanges, American Embassy, Mexico City, P.O. Box 3087, Laredo, Texas 78044

Leino, Philip Valent USA Corporation, Rural Route 1, Box 173, Dallas Center, Iowa 50063

MacKinnon, J. Jefferson Shimer College, Waukegan, Illinois 60085

Miksicek, Charles H. Office of Arid Land Studies, University of Arizona. Correspondence c/o Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Mathewson, Kent Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803

Olson, Gerald W. Deceased

Pohl, Mary DeLand Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306

Pope, Kevin O. GeoEcoArc Research, 2222 Foothill Boulevard, Suite E272, La Canada, California 91011

Shafer, Harry J. Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843

Stein, Julie K. Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195

Wing, Elizabeth S. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Wiseman, Frederick M. Johnson State College, Johnson, Vermont 05656

Mary DeLand Pohl

Changes in the orientation of archaeological research in the post-World War II period affected Maya studies. The cultural ecological perspective, which was rising to prominence, put an old debate in bold relief: How had this prehistoric civilization adapted to the tropical forest environment? How could swidden cultivation have sustained the unexpectedly high population densities that settlement pattern studies appeared to be revealing? Had the ancient Maya practiced some form of intensive agriculture? Archaeologist Dennis E. Puleston went to the Maya Lowlands to investigate geographer Alfred H. Siemens's reports of possible intensive agriculture ("ridged fields") seen from the air and to study prehistoric Maya cultivation and civilization from a cultural ecological perspective. Siemens and Puleston formed the Rio Hondo Project and focused their research on northern Belize.