Archaeology of Food An Encyclopedia Volume 1: A-K EDITED BY KAREN BESCHERER METHENY AND MARY C. BEAUDRYAGRICULTURAL ATURES, IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS Zizumbo-Villarteal, Daniel, Fernando Gonrilez-Zo1 ya, Angeles O1 ntact F Barrientos, et a. Botany 63:413-26 Disill tion in Western Mesoamerica before European C MPATRICIA COLUNGA-GARCIAMARIN AND DANIEL ZIZUMBO-VILLARREAL AGRICULTURAL FEATURES, IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS For much of the history of archaeology, research on agricultural spaces was conducted through very indirect means. Population estimates of habitation sites were with assessments of the productivity of broader regions, The idei lentification of actual a "cultural features was rare, unless obvious features such as terraces, field boundary walls canals, and dams were preserved, The ab bility of archaeologists to document farming spaces has improved in the past several decades with the addition of new micro. and macto-level techniques. mbined Ironically, botanical data have limited utility in identifying farming spaces. M: ral remains, for instance, often do not preserve unless c cultivated plants—seeds, fruits, and so on—are typically removed from fields. Microfloral Plant remains are more useful, Pollen sequences record regional changes in vegetation over time, providing proxies of human impact on the environment through stich activities *s agriculture. A decrease in arboreal taxa in conjunction with a rise in early successional species (and charcoal) commonly indicates agriculture in a previoi Generally, however, pollen records offer limited infor cies cultivated or the physical locations of past always underrepresented. Increasingly, acl acroflo, bonized, and the large parts of usly forested landscape. mation on the specific range of spe~ ning; domesticated species are almost hacologists are using phytoliths to record human tal impact, the range of plants cultivated, and actual agricultural spaces techniques, Phytoliths are produced when plants absorb soluble silica from groundwater which is deposited in inta~ and extracellular spaces in the plant body. Phytolithe ane de posited in soil where the plants died, making them useful indi loci. Phytoliths have been used to identify particular farmin, Researchers discovered that phytoliths of domesticated produce more silicified cells in irti discovery allowed archacobots Soil chemistry helps to identity agricultural spaces and even the posible crops culti_ vated. The identification of high phosphate levels has enabled r tation sites, middens, and farming loci. Ancient farming affects the amount of phosphorus in soil. In some cases, agriculture can be detected by the relat tors of past agricultural ig strategies, such as irrigation, grasses such as wheat and emmer igated versus dry-farming, contexts, for example. This anists to document irrigation at Chalcolithic sites in Jordan, earchers to locate habi- depletion of phosphorus compared to surrounding soils because crops remove phosphorus from t other cases, agriculture can be detected by farmers used he system. In a relative increase in phosphorous if ancient nic amendments to enhance soil fertility. Carbon isotopic analysis also has been used to identify specific crop taxa. Archaeologists working in the Mays lowlands of Belize and Guatemala, for instance, recorded soils in artificially constructed terraces with hi of C, plants such as maize, h carbon isotope signatures, suggesting the cultivatio The ability to locate and document agricultural feature with advances in remot has increased considerably nsing technologies. Satellite imagery, both public and com-r > ANALYSIS AGRICULTURAL FEATURES, IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS 3 os, eal 2009. Dist mercial, has been an important source of information. The Landsat (land satelite) program. 63:413-26. has been in operation since 1972. Bight missions have been launched, the most recent in 5 A-GARCIAMARIN 2013. Each satellite has different sensor platforms that target distinct parts of the electro #BO-VILLARREAL ‘magnetic spectrum. Different bands are useful for accentuating specific landscape features, including ancient agricultural systems. The resolution of Landsat data is often too coarse to identify small features, however, Commercial satelite systems, such as Quickbird and AND ANALYSIS Ikonos, offer higher-resolution, multispectral imagery. Archaeologists working in central spaces was conducted Mexico used Quickbird data to document large pre-Aztec raised field systems. VHR sites were combined satellite data are more expensive than public data but are increasingly accessible via no= ification of actual ag- cost applications. Google Earth utilizes VHR_ commercial data, for example, providing a “field boundary walls powerful tool for the archaeological study of landscapes. » document farming The use of high-resolution topographic data to identify archaeological features has n of new micro- and exploded, particularly LiDAR (light detection and ranging). LiDAR. instruments are mounted on low-fiying aircraft and scan the surface with light pulses, producing precise sing spaces. Macroflo- three~dimensional models of entire landscapes. By using hundreds of thousands of pulses, and the large parts of vegetation and other elements can be subtracted from the data, offering the potential to com fields. Microfloral produce digital elevation models of bare ground surfaces. This capacity las made LIDAR, changes in vegetation very attractive to archaeologists working in heavily forested areas. In the dense Cambodian through such activities jungle, for instance, archaeologists used LIDAR data to map the ancient city of Angkor and in early successional its surrounding water management system. The expense of this technique limits ts potential sly forested landscape. to replace less costly alternatives such as satelite data or on-the-ground survey, however specific range of spe- ted species are almost ‘See alco AGRICULTURAL/HORTICULTURAL. S1T8S; ARCHALOROTANY; IRRIGATION/HYDRAULIC aiths to record human ENGINEERING; LANDSCAPE AND ENVIRONMENTAL LECONSTRUCTION; MANURES AND OTHER agricultural spaces and FERTILIZERS, IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS; MANURING AND SoiL ENticuinct PRACTICES; ica fom groundwater, Pauynotosy; Prrvrotrrit ANALYSIS; Son, MICROTECHNIQUES; STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS Sy Phytolths are de- 5 of past agriculeural such a irrigation. wheat and emmer for example. This Further Reading (Chase, Alen F, Diane Z. Chase, Christopher T. Fisher, tal. 2012, Geospatial Revolution and Remote Sensing LIDAR in Mesoamerican Archaeology, Procedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences USA 109(32}:12916-21 Evans, Damian, Christophe Potter, Roland Fletcher, etal. 2007.A Comprehensive Archaeological Map. of the World’ Largest Preindustrial Setdement Complex at Angkor, Cambodia, Proceedings of the to locate habi- National Acsdemy of Sconces USA 104(36):14277-82, Lasaponara, Rosa, and Nicola Masini, 2007, Detection of Archaeological Crop Marks by Using Satellite ‘Quickbird Multispectral Imagery Joursa of Archaoleical Scenee 34(2):214-21 ‘Miller, Naomi F, and Katheyn L, Glesson, eds, 1994, The Archaeology of Garden and Fel, Philadelphia: ' University of Pennsylvania Pres Morehart, Christopher T. 2012. Mapping Ancient Chinampa Landscapes in the Basin of Mexico: A Remote Sensing and GIS Approach, Journal of Archaclogical Science 39(7):2541-1 Nichols, Deborah L. 1988. Iniared Acrial Photography and Prehispanic Irrigation at Teotibuacan:‘The Tlajinga Canals. Journal of Field Anhaclogy 15(0):17-27 Parcack, Sarah H. 2009, Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology. London: Routledge, Pluckhahn, Thomas J., and Vietor D. "Thompson, 2012. Integrating LIDAR Data and Conventional ‘Mapping of the Fort Center Site in South-Central Florida: A Comparative Approach. Journal of Field Archaeology 37(4):289-3014 AGRICULTURAL/HORTICULTURAL SITES Us Jason A. 2003, CORONA Sutllte amian Case Study. An Ancient Road Networks: A Northeen Meso~ CHRISTOPHER T. M AGRICULTURAL/HORTICULTURAL SITES Ancient societies employed a wide variety of p te logies ma be classified in broad categories based upon types of plant foods grown, proximity to the household, amount of labor invested in cultivation and harvesting, oductive technologies and agricultural hniques to produce food for consumption and trade. Agricultural techi ind the pres ence of permanent architecture. These categories, including distant outficlds, gardens, modified wetland: es, and orchards and vineyards, in no way agricultural technologies, nor do they such eat present all types of xist in isolation from one anothe but the use of ories allows us to investigate the different ys that societies and households oxganize production Large outfields are perhaps the most difficult to identify in the archacological record, unlike more permanent agricultural constructions such as terraces, they leave few physical traces, and their distance from settlements makes them difficult to locate through other means, Architectural re lithic artifacts, as ns, such as field boundaries and irrigation canals, ceramic and ‘ll as archaeobotanical and soil chemical traces, can provisionally iden- tify the locations of la ‘Re Outfields, however: Sites throughout Mesopotamia and China have provided archaeobotanical remains of wheat, barley, rice, and millet in quantities that ¥ presence of large fields. In the United Kingdom, the Berkshire Downs contain the remains of ate Neolithic and Roman fields, identified through # soils and distinct faunal and floral assemblages. The # presence of erode nazon Basin contains extensive areas Amazonian Datk Earths (ADE): anthropogenic regions of high fertile soil created through the purposeful application o! burned material and organi remains that some researchers estimate may cover as much as 20 percent of the region The extensive irrigation networks of the Hohokam in the southwestern United Stutes, constructed in the early first millennium AD, encompass hundreds of kilometers of large canals and small feeder chann Gardens, distinet fiom outtiel lds in their smaller size and proximity to households, a used for a wide variety of cultigens including Formal garden: tables, medicinals, and ornamentals. nerally adhere to a rigid an, are meticulously maintained, may include ignificant architectural elements, and, while some may include food plants, are generally focused on aesthi ic concerns rather than subsistence requirements. Informal gardens, s dooryard gardens and kitchen gardens, pros tneeds, and aesthetics may be of litte concern. As a result, informal gardens are generally more difficult to detect as they char form and size over time and usually contain little Permanent architecture, Volcanic eruptions have preserved features beneath a heavy layer of ash at Joya de Cerén in El Salvador and Pompeii, Italy, however, leaving identifiable traces of planting holes, raised carthen ridges, and the cultivated plants themselves, And at Chunchucmil in Mexico and Chan in Belize, as well as many other ancient Maya