This project explores the relationship between irrigation management and social organization of the Ifugao in the Northern Philippines highlands. Agricultural intensification studies in traditional societies shed light on the relationship between increasing social complexity and production intensification. While archaeologists have long associated large-scale agricultural systems with centralized forms of political organization, recent anthropological studies have identified the limitations of this assumption. This historical ecological study examines the sustainability of Ifugao irrigated-terrace farming, and documents dynamic and recursive linkages between the Ifugao and their environment. Its focus on the apparent disjunction between water management and sociopolitical stratification identifies factors that underlie the sustainability of Ifugao agriculture, and structural correlates that generate an intensive agricultural landscape.
The research uses multiple methods to investigate the history and growth of the highland Ifugao system: 1) Geographic Information Systems technology to identify the topographic locations that were best suited for settlement and terrace construction; 2) archaeological excavations and soil augering to determine the age of individual settlements and terraces, and 3) ethnographic research with Ifugao farmers to determine how labor is deployed to construct and maintain their irrigation terraces.
Research sites are located in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ifugao Province (Central Cordillera, Philippines), where little previous archaeological research has been undertaken. The need for such research is particularly urgent because the area's ancient terraces are rapidly deteriorating as increasing numbers of Ifugao farmers leave their traditional farming occupations and their rice terraces fall into disuse. This study will generate archaeological findings that are directly relevant to understanding and preserving Ifugao irrigation technology and heritage, and also expands our anthropological knowledge of water management in the non-industrial world.
