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Human Ecology, Agricultural Intensification and Landscape HUMAN ECOLOGY, AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION AND LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMATION AT THE ANCIENT MAYA POLITY OF UXBENKÁ, SOUTHERN BELIZE by BRENDAN JAMES CULLETON A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Anthropology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2012 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Brendan James Culleton Title: Human Ecology, Agricultural Intensification and Landscape Transformation at the Ancient Maya Polity of Uxbenká, Southern Belize This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Anthropology by: Douglas J. Kennett, Ph.D. Chairperson Jon M. Erlandson, Ph.D. Member Madonna L. Moss, Ph.D. Member Patrick Bartlein, Ph.D. Member Keith M. Prufer, Ph.D. Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded March 2012 ii © 2012 Brendan James Culleton iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Brendan James Culleton Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology March 2012 Title: Human Ecology, Agricultural Intensification and Landscape Transformation at the Ancient Maya Polity of Uxbenká, Southern Belize Identifying connections between land use, population change, and natural and human-induced environmental change in ancient societies provides insights into the challenges we face today. This dissertation presents data from archaeological research at the ancient Maya center of Uxbenká, Belize, integrating chronological, geomorphological, and settlement data within an ecological framework to develop methodological and theoretical tools to explore connections between social and environmental change or stability during the Preclassic and Classic Period (~1000 BC to AD 900). High-precision AMS 14 C dates from Uxbenká were integrated with stratigraphic information within a Bayesian framework to generate a high-resolution chronology of sociopolitical development and expansion in southern Belize. This chronology revises the previous understanding of settlement and development of Classic Maya society at Uxbenká and indicates specific areas of investigation to elucidate the Late and Terminal Classic periods (AD 600-900) when the polity appears to disintegrate. A geoarchaeological record of land use was developed and interpreted with respect to regional climatic and cultural histories to track landscape transformations associated with human-environment iv interactions at Uxbenká. The first documented episode of landscape instability (i.e., erosion) was associated with farmers colonizing the area. Later, landscape stability in the site core parallels Classic Period urbanization (AD 300-900) when swidden agriculture was likely restricted in the core. Another erosional event followed political disintegration as farmers resumed cultivation in and around the abandoned city. Maize yields derived from contemporary Maya farms in the area were used to estimate the maximum population size of Uxbenká during its Classic Period peak. The maximum sustainable population is estimated between 7500 and 13,000, including a potential population of ~525 elites in the core, assuming low levels of agricultural intensification. This accords well with the lack of archaeological evidence for intensive land management during the Classic Period (e.g., terraces). An ecological model developed using maize productivity and other environmental/social datasets largely predicts the settlement pattern surrounding Uxbenká. Settlements in marginal areas may be evidence of elite intra-polity competition during the Late Preclassic Period (ca. AD 1-300), though it is possible that marginal areas were settled early as garrisons to mediate travel into the site core. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Brendan James Culleton GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene University of California, Santa Cruz Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Anthropology (Archaeology), 2012, University of Oregon Master of Science, Anthropology (Archaeology), 2006, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology (Biological), 1996, University of California, Santa Cruz AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Human Responses to Quaternary Climate Change High-resolution Radiocarbon Correction and Calibration Modeling Diet through Stable Isotope Analyses Characterization of Marine and Freshwater Radiocarbon Reservoirs Use of Stable Isotopes to Model Hydrologic Systems and Determine Seasonality PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Research Technologist. Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University. 2011-present Graduate Research Fellow. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon. 2009-2011 Graduate Teaching Fellow. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon. 2005-2006 Graduate Research Fellow. Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon. 2005 Archaeologist. Pacific Legacy, Incorporated. Santa Cruz, CA. 1999-2004 vi GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Homer G. Barnett Fellowship for Course Design: Archaeological Sciences: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Understanding the Past , Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 2011. (Declined) Educational Technology Grant ($5900): Tools for Integrated Landscape Visualization and Ecological Analyses, Archaeometry Facility (with D.J. Kennett), College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 2008. National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Human Ecology, Agricultural Intensification and Landscape Transformation at the Ancient Maya Polity of Uxbenká, Southern Belize ($14,998; D.J. Kennett, P.I.), 2008. Educational Technology Grant ($3150): Equipment for Bone and Shell Protein Isolation and Purification for Stable Isotope and Radiocarbon Analyses, Archaeometry Facility (with D.J. Kennett), College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 2007. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Cultural Responses to Holocene Environmental Change in the Southern San Joaquin Valley , California, 2006-2009. Educational Technology Grant ($6930): Acquisition of Equipment for 14 C Sample Preparation and Interpretation, Archaeometry Teaching Lab (with D.J. Kennett and J.M. Erlandson), College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 2006. Travel Award ($200) 2006 SAA Annual Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 2006. Research Award ($500): Inferring Human Response to Late Holocene Ecological Change in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, California, with Freshwater Mussel Shell Isotopes , Graduate School, University of Oregon, 2005. Luther C. Cressman Prize for Outstanding Graduate Research Paper, Characterization of Freshwater and Marine Radiocarbon Corrections at Elk Hills, Kern County, California , Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 2005. vii PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS: Kennett, D.J., Culleton, B.J., 2012. A Bayesian Chronological Framework for Determining Site Seasonality and Contemporaneity. In Seasonality and Human Mobility along the Georgia Bight: Proceedings of the Fifth Caldwell Conference, St. Catherines Island, Georgia. E.J. Reitz, I.R. Quitmyer & D.H. Thomas (eds.), pp. 37-49. Anthropological Papers of The American Museum of Natural History No. 97 . Culleton, B.J., Prufer, K.M., Kennett, D.J., 2012. A Bayesian AMS 14 C Chronology of the Classic Maya Center of Uxbenká, Belize. Journal of Archaeological Science 39:1572-1586. Rick, T.C., Henkes, G.A., Lowery, D.L., Colman, S.M., Culleton, B.J., 2012. Marine Radiocarbon Reservoir Corrections ( ∆R) for Chesapeake Bay and the Middle Atlantic Coast of North America. Quaternary Research 77:205-210. Prufer, K.M., Moyes, H., Culleton, B.J., Kindon, A., Kennett, D.J., 2011. Formation of a Complex Polity on the Eastern Periphery of the Maya Lowlands. Latin American Antiquity 22:199-223. Kennett, D.J., Culleton, B.J., Voorhies, B., Southon, J.R., 2011. Bayesian Analysis of High-Precision AMS 14 C Dates from a Prehistoric Mexican Shellmound. Radiocarbon 53:245–259. Rick, T.C., Culleton, B.J., Smith, C.B., Johnson, J.R., Kennett, D.J., 2011. Stable Isotope Analysis of Dog, Fox, and Human Diets at a Late Holocene Chumash Village (CA-SRI-2) on Santa Rosa Island, California. Journal of Archaeological Science . 38:1385-1393 Erlandson, J.M., Rick, T.C., Braje, T.J., Casperson, M., Culleton, B.J., Fulfrost, B. Garcia, T., Guthrie, D., Jew, N., Kennett, D.J., Moss, M.L., Reeder, L., Skinner, C., Watts, J., Willis, L., 2011. Paleoindian Seafaring, Maritime Technologies, and Coastal Foraging on California’s Channel Islands. Science 331:1181-1185. Jones, T.L., Culleton, B.J., Larson, S., Mellinger, S., Porcasi, J.F., 2011. Toward a Prehistory of the Southern Sea Otter ( Enhydra lutris nereis ). In Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters: Integrating Archaeology and Ecology in the Northeast Pacific . T.J. Braje & T.C. Rick (eds.), pp. 243–271. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. McClure, S.B., García, O., Roca de Togores, C., Culleton, B.J., Kennett, D.J., 2011. Osteological and Paleodietary Investigation of Burials from Cova de la Pastora, Alicante, Spain. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:420-428. viii Culleton, B.J.,
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