84 Geoarchaeology of Sites to Landscapes: Current Research on Long-Term Water and Soil Management and Maladaptation, Part I

This session brings together geoarchaeological projects from around the world that study ancient water and soil or agricultural management. This session will compare techniques, timing, and evidence for adaptation to past and present environmental changes.

Monday, 20 October 2025
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
HBGCC, 214D

Ancient Reservoir Construction on the Fringes of the Coastal Plain: Late Preclassic through Postclassic Maya adaptations to a changing environment.

Paper number: 84-3
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:40 AM – 8:55 AM

Authors

Abstract

New evidence from the lower Rio Bravo watershed of northwest Belize reinforces ideas that ancient Maya – wetland interactions were vital strategies for combatting the seasonal and long-term droughts that hindered lowland Maya agroecosystems. Previous analysis of 0.5m resolution LiDAR-derived elevation models revealed raised linear features surrounding a subsiding area adjacent to the Birds of Paradise wetland field and canal complex. We then studied those linear features on site through excavations and coring, collecting stratigraphic data from all sides of this feature. We used radiocarbon dating to study the ages of those linear features, X-ray fluorescence for geochemistry, and stratigraphy to understand the methods of construction. Our results indicated that those raised linear features represented ancient embankments that were constructed within an ancient perennial wetland, possibly as early as the Late Preclassic (450 BCE – 250 CE) and maintained or modified episodically through at least the Late Postclassic (through 1320 CE). We propose two models of formation for those embankments. The first model suggests that the reservoir’s embankments were initially constructed during the Late Preclassic on top of contemporary sediments. Under this model, locally derived sediments may have been used to initially raise this feature above the surrounding landscape and later distally sourced sediments were used to continue that raising. The second model posits that the initial raising began during the Late Classic as distally sourced sediments were used to commence construction on top of the broader Late Preclassic paleosol. This constructed feature ultimately formed a reservoir measuring approximately 860m in length that was integrated with the adjacent wetland fields and canals to the west and the Rio Bravo to the north.  

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-413609

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