Hydraulic Agriculture in the American Tropics: Forms, Measures, and Recent Research

Arising from theBajos: The Evolution of a Neotropical Landscape and the Rise of Maya Civilization

“…This ecological transformation represents one of the most significant and long-lasting anthropogenic environmental changes documented in the pre-Columbian New World. Our research continues a long tradition of geographical research on the ecology and use of wetlands in the pre-Hispanic Americas (e.g., West and Armillas 1950;Denevan 1970Denevan , 1982Siemens and Puleston 1972;Turner 1974;Siemens 1978Siemens , 1983Gliessman et al 1983;Wilken 1987;Sluyter 1994).…”

Energetic efficiency and political expediency in Titicaca Basin raised field agriculture

“…Potatoes produce more calories per hectare, but require a much higher labor investment, and are consequently less efficient than quinua in purely energetic terms. Therefore, as the pota- (Tapia and Banegas, 1990, p. 97), and 200-1000 (Erickson, 1985;Erickson and Candler, 1989; also Denevan, 1982, Garaycochea, 1987. For dryland agriculture R = 0, since no infrastructure exists to be reconstructed, assuming, of course, that irrigation is not practiced.…”

“…Other figures include 600 kg/ ha (PIWA, 1994, p. 286, recalculated). g Kolata (1986) and Denevan (1982). h Graffam (1990, p. 29).…”

Mapping ancient chinampa landscapes in the Basin of Mexico: a remote sensing and GIS approach

“…Raised field have been documented elsewhere in highland Mexico as well as in the lowlands of the Mexican Gulf Coast, northern Belize, and Guatemala (e.g., Denevan, 1970Denevan, , 1982Doolittle, 1990;Farrington, 1985;Fisher, 2005;Pohl, 1990;Pohl et al, 1996;Puleston, 1978;Puleston and Siemens, 1972;Scarborough, 2003;Siemens, 1983;Turner and Harrison, 1983;Whitmore and Turner, 2001;Wilken, 1987). In South America, raised fields characterize landscapes in the Andean highlands and the Amazonian lowlands (e.g., Bandy, 2005;Darch, 1983;Denevan, 2001;Erickson, 1993Erickson, , 1994Erickson, , 2006Janusek and Kolata, 2004;Kolata, 1991;Stanish, 1994Stanish, , 2006Walker, 2011;Zimmerer, 1991).…”