The conjunctive use of paleoecological and archaeological data to document past human-environment relationships has become a theoretical imperative in the study of ancient cultures. Geographers are playing leading roles in this scholarly effort. Synthesizing both types of data, we argue that large karst depressions known as bajos in the Maya Lowlands region were anthropogenically transformed from perennial wetlands and shallow lakes to seasonal swamps between 400 bc and ad 250. This environmental transformation helps answer several questions that have long puzzled scholars of Maya civilization: (1) why many of the earliest Maya cities were built on the margins of bajos, (2) why some of these early centers were abandoned between 100 bc and ad 250, and (3) why other centers constructed elaborate water storage systems and survived into the Classic period ( ad 250-900). The transformation of the bajos represents one of the most significant and long-lasting anthropogenic environmental changes documented in the pre-Columbian New World.

A severe incongruity has long existed between the well-known complexity of ancient Maya civilization and the relatively feeble economic base that could be reconstructed for it. Recent fieldwork has ihdicated that much more intensive cultivation patterns were used than was previously thought. Data from the use of synthetic aperture radar in aerial surveys of the southern Maya lowlands suggest that large areas were drained by ancient canals that may have been used for intensive cultivation. Ground checks in several limited areas have confirmed the existence of canals, and excavations and ground surveys have provided valuable comparative information. Taken together, the new data suggest that Late Class period Maya civilization was firmly grounded in large-scale and intensive cultivation of swampy zones.

A vital task facing scholars concerned with the structure of ancient Maya society is reconstructing the relationships among subsistence, population, and social organization. Particularly in the southern Maya lowlands, where extremely dense populations were found by Late Classic times, substantial modifications of the landscape through a variety of land management techniques were necessary. The nature of these modifications, the range of innovations, and the degree of intensification are still, however, poorly understood. This article explores the significance of one form of landscape modification entailed by the occupation and use of seasonal wetlands (bajos). Below, we examine the debate over the significance of intensive wetland agriculture in the Maya lowlands, then discuss the preliminary findings of a case study designed to investigate the duration and intensity of use of a major central Peten bajo. Culture & AgricultureVol. 22, ,\i. ; Fd

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