Pre-Hispanic Maya Agriculture

Harrison, Peter D.; Turner, B. L.

ISBN 10: 0826304834 / ISBN 13: 9780826304834

Published by Univ of New Mexico Pr, 1978

About this Item

Book is clean with a square, tight binding and bright, white pages. Book is incribed by author. Book has slight bumps to top and bottom spine that are difficult to see in scans and Dust Jacket has minor wear on the edges that is also difficult to see in the scans. Pre-Hispanic Maya Agriculture Peter D. Harrison and B. L. Turner II, editors Among the mysteries that vex archaeologists today, a particularly complex one is summed up in the simple question, How did the ancient Maya feed themselves? This book presents seventeen up-to-date responses to that question by archaeologists, geographers, and other specialists in tropical agriculture. Until recently most scholars believed that the pre-Hispanic Maya-like their modern descendants lived principally on maize grown by swidden (slash-and-burn) agriculture. This volume demolishes the swidden thesis. How a society as large and complex as the Maya could have been supported by so primitive a system of agriculture has puzzled some scholars for years. The investigations reported here by Harrison, Turner, and their contributors reveal modifications of the landscape-terraces on hillsides, stone walls on flatlands, and raised fields and canals in valleys-suggestive of far more efficient and productive systems of agriculture. They show, furthermore, that the region is not environmentally uniform, as has long been assumed, but varies considerably in soils, climate, and the like, indicating that modes of subsistence probably varied as well. These data are still new enough to be quite controversial, and the contributors do not hesitate to disagree with one another on the significance of their findings. The book you see in the images is the actual book we have for sale. Why pay more? When you buy this book from us, you are helping to support a small brick and mortar family owned store. We have been curating our collection for three generations and currently have over 250,000 volumes in stock. Please feel free to call for more stock.

Seller Inventory # 025283

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Pre-Hispanic Maya Agriculture
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr
• Publication Date: 1978
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826304834
• ISBN 13: 9780826304834
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)