| Popis: |
For the ancient Maya, the collection and storage of rainfall were necessary requirements for sustainable occupation in the interior portions of the lowlands in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. The importance of managing water resources at the household level, in the form of small natural or culturally modified tanks, has recently been recognized as a spatially and temporally widespread complement to a reliance on the larger, centralized reservoirs that occupied most urban centers. Emerging evidence indicates that these residential tanks functioned to satisfy a variety of domestic water needs beginning in the Middle Preclassic (1000 – 400 BC) period.The research presented in this dissertation aims to clarify the role of small topographical depressions in ancient Maya domestic water management utilizing a combination of satellite remote sensing and archaeological excavation to identify, survey, and evaluate small household tanks. The three research articles included here focus on the lidar identification and subsequent archaeological investigation of these features at the central lowland sites of Yaxnohcah in southern Campeche, Mexico and Medicinal Trail in northwestern Belize. In addition to clarifying the origin and functions of these reservoirs, their role within the broader mosaic of ancient Maya water management infrastructure and practices, particularly within the Elevated Interior Region (EIR) of the Yucatan Peninsula is also explored. This original research supplements existing archaeological, environmental, and remote sensing studies of ancient Maya civilization and contributes to the advancement of Maya studies by: (1) providing a scheme for identifying closed depressions as probable water features within lidar imagery; (2) placing household tanks within the larger framework of ancient Maya water systems and practices; and (3) identifying spatial and temporal linkages between household tanks and differing levels of urban development in the Maya lowlands. |
