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Sociology

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Selected Works

Jennifer P Mathews

2015

Cenotes

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Wetland Manipulation In The Yalahau Region Of The Northern Maya Lowlands, Scott L. Fedick, Bethany A. Morrison, Bente Juhl Andersen, Sylviane Boucher, Jorge Ceja Acosta, Jennifer P. Mathews Nov 2015

Wetland Manipulation In The Yalahau Region Of The Northern Maya Lowlands, Scott L. Fedick, Bethany A. Morrison, Bente Juhl Andersen, Sylviane Boucher, Jorge Ceja Acosta, Jennifer P. Mathews

Jennifer P Mathews

Manipulation of wetlands for agricultural purposes by the ancient Maya of southern Mexico and Central America has been a subject of much research and debate since the 1970s. Evidence for wetland cultivation systems, in the form of drained or channelized fields, and raised planting platforms, has been restricted primarily to the southern Maya Lowlands. New research in the Yalahau region of Quintana Roo, Mexico, has recorded evidence for wetland manipulation in the far northern lowlands, in the form of rock alignments that apparently functioned to control water movement and soil accumulation in seasonally inundated areas. Nearby ancient settlements date primarily …


Cenotes As Conceptual Boundary Markers At The Ancient Maya Site Of T’Isil, Quintana Roo, México, Scott L. Fedick, Jennifer P. Mathews, Kathryn Sorensen Nov 2015

Cenotes As Conceptual Boundary Markers At The Ancient Maya Site Of T’Isil, Quintana Roo, México, Scott L. Fedick, Jennifer P. Mathews, Kathryn Sorensen

Jennifer P Mathews

Ancient Maya communities, from small village sites to urban centers, have long posed problems to archaeologists in attempting to define the boundaries or limits of settlement. These ancient communities tend to be relatively dispersed, with settlement densities dropping toward the periphery, but lacking any clear boundary. At a limited number of sites, the Maya constructed walled enclosures or earthworks, which scholars have generally interpreted as defensive projects, often hastily built to protect the central districts of larger administrative centers during times of warfare (e.g., Demarest et al. 1997; Inomata 1997; Kurjack and Andrews 1976; Puleston and Callender 1967; Webster 2000; …