Anthropogenic landscape change and the human ecology of the lower río verde valley Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • Environmental degradation caused by human land use is often viewed as a problem of the modern industrial age. Recent research in Europe, the Near East, and Mesoamerica, however, has yielded evidence for anthropogenic landscape change dating back thousands of years (Redman 1999). In Mesoamerica evidence of land clearance for agriculture is present in lake and estuarine cores since the mid-Holocene (Dunning et al. 2002; Kennett et al. 2010; Lesure 2008; Neff et al. 2006; Piperno et al. 2007), with increasingly significant ecological changes triggered by agricultural practices accompanying the growth of large sedentary populations in the first millennium BC (e.g., Borejsza et al. 2011; Dunning et al. 2002; Heine 2003; Metcalfe et al. 1989; Park et al. 2010; Velez et al. 2011). Research indicates significant land degradation and a reduction in soil fertility in some regions. In many of them the large-scale development of soil and water conservation technologies, especially terraces, seems to have been spurred by prior anthropogenic erosion (Borejsza et al. 2008; Córdova and Parsons 1997; Dunning and Beach 1994; Fisher et al. 2003; Flannery 1983; Kirkby 1972; Spores 1969). Land degradation has been implicated in major cultural changes in Mesoamerica, especially the collapse of Classic Maya polities in the ninth and tenth centuries AD (Aimers 2007: Table 1). Despite the increasing research focus on human impact, debate continues over the timing and nature of anthropogenic landscape change and its effects on prehispanic peoples (e.g., Fisher 2005; Metcalfe et al. 2007). In this chapter we discuss and update the results of long-term interdisciplinary research on the environmental and social effects of anthropogenic landscape change in the Río Verde drainage basin in the southern Mexican highlands and coast of Oaxaca. Our research involves an interdisciplinary collaboration of archaeologists, geologists, and paleoecologists designed to examine anthropogenic landscape change and its impact on human populations along the Río Verde. The majority of research on prehispanic human impact on the environment has focused on landscape degradation resulting from local land use. Our research is different in that we take a macroregional perspective by examining the effects of prehispanic agriculture in the upper drainage basin of the Verde on people and environments in the lower valley more than 150 km downstream (Goman et al. 2005, 2010, Chapter 2; Joyce 1991a, 1991b; Joyce and Mueller 1992, 1997; Joyce et al. 1998; Mueller and Joyce 2007; Mueller et al. 2012; Mueller and Pou 2008). Previous interdisciplinary projects indicated that erosion in the highlands triggered ecological changes in the lowlands, including a modification of stream channel dynamics that resulted in alluviation and expansion of the lower Verde%27s floodplain. Although the causes of highland erosion are difficult to untangle, settlement and land use data as well as geomorphological research point to human impact as a likely contributor. We hypothesized that the expansion of the lower Verde%27s floodplain (Joyce and Mueller 1992), as well as related changes in coastal landforms (Goman et al. 2005), could have significantly affected the abundance and distribution of resources available to human populations. This chapter discusses recent geomorphological research that clarifies the chronology of environmental change in the lower valley as well as archaeological evidence suggesting possible effects on human populations. First we review the physiographic properties of the drainage basin and summarize research on the history of natural and anthropogenic erosion in the highland valleys of the upper drainage basin. We then consider how highland erosion affected environments and people in the lower valley. The geomorphological research complements recent paleoecological studies (Goman et al. 2005, 2010, Chapter 2) that together contribute to a complex model of the macroregional effects of prehispanic anthropogenic landscape change. © 2013 by University Press of Colorado.
  • Environmental degradation caused by human land use is often viewed as a problem of the modern industrial age. Recent research in Europe, the Near East, and Mesoamerica, however, has yielded evidence for anthropogenic landscape change dating back thousands of years (Redman 1999). In Mesoamerica evidence of land clearance for agriculture is present in lake and estuarine cores since the mid-Holocene (Dunning et al. 2002; Kennett et al. 2010; Lesure 2008; Neff et al. 2006; Piperno et al. 2007), with increasingly significant ecological changes triggered by agricultural practices accompanying the growth of large sedentary populations in the first millennium BC (e.g., Borejsza et al. 2011; Dunning et al. 2002; Heine 2003; Metcalfe et al. 1989; Park et al. 2010; Velez et al. 2011). Research indicates significant land degradation and a reduction in soil fertility in some regions. In many of them the large-scale development of soil and water conservation technologies, especially terraces, seems to have been spurred by prior anthropogenic erosion (Borejsza et al. 2008; Córdova and Parsons 1997; Dunning and Beach 1994; Fisher et al. 2003; Flannery 1983; Kirkby 1972; Spores 1969). Land degradation has been implicated in major cultural changes in Mesoamerica, especially the collapse of Classic Maya polities in the ninth and tenth centuries AD (Aimers 2007: Table 1). Despite the increasing research focus on human impact, debate continues over the timing and nature of anthropogenic landscape change and its effects on prehispanic peoples (e.g., Fisher 2005; Metcalfe et al. 2007). In this chapter we discuss and update the results of long-term interdisciplinary research on the environmental and social effects of anthropogenic landscape change in the Río Verde drainage basin in the southern Mexican highlands and coast of Oaxaca. Our research involves an interdisciplinary collaboration of archaeologists, geologists, and paleoecologists designed to examine anthropogenic landscape change and its impact on human populations along the Río Verde. The majority of research on prehispanic human impact on the environment has focused on landscape degradation resulting from local land use. Our research is different in that we take a macroregional perspective by examining the effects of prehispanic agriculture in the upper drainage basin of the Verde on people and environments in the lower valley more than 150 km downstream (Goman et al. 2005, 2010, Chapter 2; Joyce 1991a, 1991b; Joyce and Mueller 1992, 1997; Joyce et al. 1998; Mueller and Joyce 2007; Mueller et al. 2012; Mueller and Pou 2008). Previous interdisciplinary projects indicated that erosion in the highlands triggered ecological changes in the lowlands, including a modification of stream channel dynamics that resulted in alluviation and expansion of the lower Verde's floodplain. Although the causes of highland erosion are difficult to untangle, settlement and land use data as well as geomorphological research point to human impact as a likely contributor. We hypothesized that the expansion of the lower Verde's floodplain (Joyce and Mueller 1992), as well as related changes in coastal landforms (Goman et al. 2005), could have significantly affected the abundance and distribution of resources available to human populations. This chapter discusses recent geomorphological research that clarifies the chronology of environmental change in the lower valley as well as archaeological evidence suggesting possible effects on human populations. First we review the physiographic properties of the drainage basin and summarize research on the history of natural and anthropogenic erosion in the highland valleys of the upper drainage basin. We then consider how highland erosion affected environments and people in the lower valley. The geomorphological research complements recent paleoecological studies (Goman et al. 2005, 2010, Chapter 2) that together contribute to a complex model of the macroregional effects of prehispanic anthropogenic landscape change. © 2013 by University Press of Colorado.

publication date

  • 2013-01-01