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Houselot gardens are cultivated spaces located adjacent to households and are commonly used to grow flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. They function as a primary source of a diverse array of food items, including staples, condiments, medicines, and spices; they provide non-food items as well, such as dyes, construction materials, or ornamental plants; and they provide a supply of food that is sold in local and extra-local markets. The diversity of plants and uses make gardens a fundamental element of household subsistence production. This chapter investigates the articulation of Maya gardening practices with economic systems, focusing specifically on how changes in the political economy affects household production. We utilize diachronic data from the Pre-Columbian Maya site of Chan, exploring how household gardening practices were affected in a dynamic political landscape from the Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Classic. These data are contrasted with synchronic data from the contemporary village of Lake Mensabak, a Lacandon Maya community going through rapid social and political disruptions. This chapter demonstrates that although houselot gardens are small-scale and household oriented, they reflect changes and upheavals in local, national, and international political economies. |
