UC Riverside

Cultivation has taken many forms throughout the Maya lowlands. In the Yalahau region of the northern Maya lowlands, a series of wetlands produce a dynamic environment of wet, dry, and intermediate areas depending on fluctuations of the annual hydrologic cycle. Within these wetlands, anthropogenic rock alignments suggest human use and manipulation of the environment dating to the late Preclassic period. The dissertation is based on research at a single wetland at El Edén Ecological Reserve, Quintana Roo and concerns the function of the rock alignments as well as their duration of use to the ancient Maya. In terms of function, hypotheses are that they modified soil and water movement within a system of cultivation, and/ or acted as boundary markers, and/ or provided bases for fish weirs. As for when the rock alignments were used, hypotheses follow that they were used for a single hydroperiod, that the same features were built as the hydroperiod changed, or that new functions emerged as the water table shifted. Data was collected through topographic mapping of four areas of the wetland containing a total of twelve rock alignments, high-resolution GPS of these mapped areas, recording of water table fluctuations for a period of two years, and analysis of a sediment core documenting pollen extending back nearly 2500 years. The computer program arcGIS was used to create a series of topographic maps, both with and without the rock alignments, that demonstrate the influence of the rock alignments on the movement of water on the landscape. The rock alignments impacted water movement on a small scale. Within El Edén wetland, the ancient Maya constructed lines of rock to cause water to pool in localized depressions, either by dividing existing basins or surrounding them to direct water back inward, where it was maintained into the dry season so that valuable plants were encouraged to thrive for a longer period of time. Sinuous lines of rock were constructed to provide the base for a fish weir. Rock alignments were built at various points along the topography to take advantage of varying annual hydroperiods.