Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:47:43.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Pre-Hispanic Maya Reservoir System at Kinal, Peten, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Vernon L. Scarborough ,
Robert P. Connolly  and
Steven P. Ross
Vernon L. Scarborough
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA
Robert P. Connolly
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Steven P. Ross
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The southern Lowland Maya hilltop center of Kinal is shown to be a human-modified watershed. The broad paved surfaces of the elevated central precinct acted as runoff-catchment areas directing precipitation into gravity-fed channels and reservoirs. In a geographical zone affected by an extended dry season and away from permanent water sources, Kinal demonstrates the components of a rainfall-dependent water-management system characteristic of other large sites in the region.

Type
Special Section: Classic Maya Landscape Archaelogy
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 1994 , pp. 97 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adams, Richard E.W. 1987 The Rio Azul Archaeological Project, 1985 Summary. In Rio Azul Reports, No. 3: The 1985 Season, edited by Adams, Richard E.W., pp. 1–27. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick, Mager, Pamela C., and Spencer, Mara L. 1978 Regional Variability in Maya Lowland Agriculture. In Pre-Hispanic Maya Agriculture, edited by Harrison, Peter D. and Turner, B.L. II, pp. 157–162. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick, and Rice, Don S. (editors) 1990 Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V. (editor) 1982 Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Fox, Richard G. 1977 Urban Anthropology: Cities in Their Cultural Setting. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.Google Scholar
Gallopin, Gary G. 1990 Water Storage Technology at Tikal, Guatemala. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati.Google Scholar
Giddens, Anthony 1971 Capitalism and Modern Social Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, Ian 1967 Archaeological Explorations in El Peten, Guatemala. Publication No. 33. Middle American Research Institute, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Greene, Ernestene L. 1973 Locational Analysis of Prehistoric Maya Sites in Northern British Honduras. American Antiquity 38:279–293.Google Scholar
Harrison, Peter D., and Turner, B.L. II (editors) 1978 Prehispanic Maya Agriculture. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Harrison, Peter D., and Turner, B.L. II (editors) 1983 Pulltrouser Swamp: Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Hunt, Robert C., and Hunt, Eva 1976 Canal Irrigation and Local Social Organization. Current Anthropology 17:389–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leach, Edmund R. 1959 Hydraulic Society in Ceylon. Past and Present 15:2–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matheny, Ray T. 1976 Maya Lowland Hydraulic Systems. Science 193:639–646.Google Scholar
Matheny, Ray T. 1986 Investigations at El Mirador, Peten, Guatemala. National Geographic Research 2:332–353.Google Scholar
Matheny, Ray T., and Gurr, Deanne L. 1979 Ancient Hydraulic Techniques in the Chiapas Highlands. American Scientist 67:441–449.Google Scholar
Matheny, Ray T., Gurr, Deanne L., Forsyth, Donald W., and Hauck, F. Richard 1983 Investigations at Edzna, Campeche, Mexico, Volume 1, Part 1: The Hydraulic System. Papers No. 46. New World Archaeological Foundation, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Matheny, Ray T., Hansen, Richard D., and Gurr, Deanne L. 1980 El Mirador, Peten, Guatemala: An Interim Report. Papers No. 45. New World Archaeological Foundation, Provo, UT.Google Scholar
Meggers, Betty J. 1954 Environmental Limitation on the Development of Culture. American Anthropologist 56:801–824.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, William P. 1973 The Hydraulic Hypothesis: A Reappraisal. Current Anthropology 14:532–534.Google Scholar
Pohl, Mary D. (editor) 1990 Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Pope, Kevin O., and Dahlin, Bruce H. 1989 Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: New Insights from Ecological and Remote Sensing Research. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:87–106.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T. 1977 Environmental Heterogeneity and Evolution of Lowland Maya Civilization. In Origins of Maya Civilization, edited by Adams, Richard E.W., pp. 287–298. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Webster, David L. 1978 Unilinealism, Multilinealism, and the Evolution of Complex Society. In Social Archaeology: Beyond Subsistence and Dating, edited by Redman, Charles L., Berman, Mary Jane, Curtin, Edward V., Langhorne, William T. Jr., Versaggi, Nina M., and Wanser, Jeffery C., pp. 249–302. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Webster, David L. 1988 The Mesoamerican Urban Tradition. American Anthropologist 90:521–546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarborough, Vernon L. 1991a Archaeology at Cerros, Belize, Central America, vol. 3. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.Google Scholar
Scarborough, Vernon L. 1991b Water Management Adaptations in Nonindustrial Complex Society: An Archaeological Perspective. In Method and Theory in Archaeology, vol. 3, edited by Schiffer, Michael B., pp. 101–154. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Scarborough, Vernon L. 1993a Water Management in the Maya Lowlands: An Accretive Model for the Engineered Landscape. In Economic Aspects of Water Management in the Prehispanic New World, edited by Scarborough, Vernon L. and Isaac, Barry L.. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement No. 7. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, in press.Google Scholar
Scarborough, Vernon L. 1993b Introduction. In Economic Aspects of Water Management in the Prehispanic New World, edited by Scarborough, Vernon L. and Isaac, Barry L.. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement No. 7. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, in press.Google Scholar
Scarborough, Vernon L., Becher, Matthew E., Baker, Jeffrey L., Harris, Garry, and Hensz, J.D. 1992 Water Management Studies at La Milpa, Belize. Report submitted to National Geographic Society, Grant No. 4595–91.Google Scholar
Scarborough, Vernon L., Connolly, Robert P., and Ross, Steven P. 1994 Water Management Studies of Kinal and Adjacent Areas. In Ixcanrio Regional Archaeological Survey Report, edited by Adams, Richard E.W.. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio, in press.Google Scholar
Scarborough, Vernon L., and Gallopin, Gary G. 1991 A Water Storage Adaptation in the Maya Lowlands. Science 251:658–662.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scarborough, Vernon L., and Isaac, Barry L. (editors) 1993 Economic Aspects of Water Management in the Prehispanic New World. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement No. 7. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, in press.Google Scholar
Service, Elman R. 1975 Origins of the State and Civilization: The Process of Cultural Evolution. W.W. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Siemens, Alfred H., and Puleston, Dennis E. 1972 Ridged Fields and Associated Features in Southern Campeche. American Antiquity 37:228–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, B.L. II 1974 Prehistoric Intensive Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Science 185:118–124.Google Scholar
Wilken, Gene C. 1987 Good Farmers. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Wittfogel, Karl A. 1957 Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Wright, A.C.S., Romney, D.H., Arbuckle, R.H., and Vial, V.E. 1959 Land in British Honduras: Report of the British Honduras Land Use Survey Team. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar