With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Vernon Scarborough, Nicholas Dunning and colleagues will conduct two field seasons of archaeological and ecological research at the site of La Milpa, located in Northern Belize. The site, which contains a number of house mounds, is relatively small and typical of many lowland prehistoric Mayan communities. It also was occupied for a considerable length of time and spans the interval from early through Classic periods. Therefore it has the potential to shed light on the development of the Mayan civilization. La Milpa includes within its boundaries two `bajos` or lowland swampy regions and the focus of this project is on the agricultural utilization of these areas and how this changed over time. Evidence to date indicates that Mayan peoples altered bajos by channeling water and constructing raised fields to create fertile agricultural surfaces with appropriate moisture levels. Drs Scarborough, Dunning and colleagues wish to understand how these field systems developed over time. To accomplish this goal they will first utilize SPOT satellite imagery and black and white aerial photographs to locate sites and identify surface features. The resultant maps will provide the basis for an extensive surface survey. Specific areas will be targeted, fields and terraces will be mapped in detail and soil core samples will be collected to identify field use. Soil phosphate mapping and phosphate fraction analysis will be employed. Excavation of both housemounds and potential field and terrace locations will be conducted. Radiocarbon dating of soil and sediment humates and midden debris as well as information derived from stylistic analysis will be employed to determine absolute chronological age. Finally backhoe trenches will be cut to permit stratigraphic correlation and interpretation. Archaeologists have long recognized that a tie exists between levels of social complexity and techniques of agricultural production. It is obvious that a certain degree of productivity must be reached to permit people to live together in large groups and to allow a segment of the population to devote themselves to non-subsistence activities. However there is a second relationship between subsistence and social organization as well. Many agricultural systems, especially ones which require large public works and distribution of limited resources such as water, require carefully coordinated actions among individuals and by their very nature foster development of social stratification. Archaeologists wish to understand the details of this process and Scarborough and Dunning's work focus on this issue. They wish to learn whether the development of complex water management systems which characterize La Milpa occurred relative slowly by accretative means or whether they developed over very short periods of time. The social implications of these alternative courses of action differ. This research is important for several reasons. It will shed light on how complex state level societies develop. The lowland Maya flourished in tropical areas which today have very low population densities and this prehistoric group developed a successful agricultural system which was sustainable for a long period of time. This research will shed new light on the subsistence and social practices involved.
