84-5 Ancient Maya Wetland Agricultural Field-Building in the Northwest Sector of the Birds of Paradise Fields

Session: Geoarchaeology of Sites to Landscapes: Current Research on Long-Term Water and Soil Management and Maladaptation, Part I

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Abstract:

     Previous geoarchaeological work has found evidence of climate change adaptation within ancient Maya societies through increased reliance on wetland agriculture systems. While regular droughts in the Terminal Preclassic and Classic periods, ~1700 BP and ~1120-1000 BP, respectively, propagated water security and subsidence issues in the ancient Maya Lowlands, the ancient Maya responded by constructing extensive wetland canal and field systems. We examine the environmental and agricultural history of the Birds of Paradise wetland field complex, located in an approximately five square kilometer wetland within the Rio Bravo watershed, near the intersection of Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. This presentation focuses on a series of excavations conducted in May 2024 and sediment cores collected in May 2025, building on a network of LiDAR-assisted wetland canal identifications and field verifications conducted over the last 25 years by the Soils and Geoarchaeology Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. We present stratigraphy and geochemical findings that reveal evidence of extended agricultural field-building around two kilometers away from previous excavations and around three kilometers downstream from Akab Muclil and Gran Cacao, two prominent ancient Maya cultural centers. Paleosols, or the ancient buried topsoil layers, corresponding with heightened organic carbon levels, were clearly identified through the excavations, reflecting a history of canal and field-building. Radiocarbon dates indicate evidence of field-building from the Early Classic period, supported by ceramic samples that further corroborate a human activity zone. Carbon isotope analysis provides additional context for the dominant photosynthetic processes of the agricultural inputs, supplemented by preliminary pollen evidence. While the region’s dominant hydrological flow is oriented in the east-west direction, this project explores a downstream, auxiliary section of the canal system, oriented in the north-south direction. This location provides new evidence for the use and chronology of the fields in a new research locus in this large wetland field complex. Analyzing ancient Maya response to changing environments reveals crucial lessons of environmental adaptation and sustainable agricultural strategies of past civilizations.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-8342

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