The Petexbatun region has a series of upland ridges surrounded by lowland wetlands. In Preclassic times, ancient Maya peoples began colonizing the region along waterways. Although few in number, they cleared large areas of upland tropical forest for agriculture and induced significant soil erosion. Population contracted in the region during the Early Classic, and mature tropical forest growth returned. During the Late Classic, population expanded rapidly across the region, forest clearance resumed, and desirable, intensively cultivated, upland areas were divided by an elaborate wall system. Upland agriculture during the Late Classic included the use of several types of terracing that significantly checked soil erosion during this period. Considerable variation may have existed between the urban agriculture practiced in the region's three major centers—Dos Pilas, Tamarindito, and Aguateca.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Pollen and charcoal analysis of a 5.3-m sediment core from Aguada Petapilla, a peat bog, provides evidence of late Holocene vegetation and fire history in the Copan Valley, Honduras. Low concentration and preservation problems characterized the pollen flora, but there are taxa present indicative of major agricultural trends, including Zea mays. Microscopic charcoal fragments are well represented and record continued burning in the region since the lowest level of the core (5700 B.P. [3750 B.C.]). Presence of Zea indicates that maize farming was initiated by as early as 2300 B.C. Three peaks in charcoal-fragment frequencies occur in periods centered approximately at 900 B.C., 400 B.C., and A.D. 600. Fires in this relatively dry region of the southern Maya Lowlands (whose mean annual rainfall is about 1,400 mm) could have resulted from natural forest fires or human agricultural clearing at any time in the Holocene. This contrasts with wetter areas of tropical Central and South America (mean annual rainfall of about 2,500–4,000 mm) where significant climatic drying is required to ignite primary tropical forest.