Precolumbian Water Management

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Precolumbian Water Management

Author : Lisa J. Lucero,Barbara W. Fash
Publisher : University of Arizona Press
Page : 311 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2022-08-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780816550463

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Precolumbian Water Management by Lisa J. Lucero,Barbara W. Fash Pdf

Among ancient Mesoamerican and Southwestern peoples, water was as essential as maize for sustenance and was a driving force in the development of complex society. Control of water shaped the political, economic, and religious landscape of the ancient Americas, yet it is often overlooked in Precolumbian studies. Now one volume offers the latest thinking on water systems and their place within the ancient physical and mental language of the region. Precolumbian Water Management examines water management from both economic and symbolic perspectives. Water management facilities, settlement patterns, shrines, and water-related imagery associated with civic-ceremonial and residential architecture provide evidence that water systems pervade all aspects of ancient society. Through analysis of such data, the contributors seek to combine an understanding of imagery and the religious aspects of water with its functional components, thereby presenting a unified perspective of how water was conceived, used, and represented in ancient greater Mesoamerica. The collection boasts broad chronological and geographical coverage—from the irrigation networks of Teotihuacan to the use of ritual water technology at Casas Grandes—that shows how procurement and storage systems were adapted to local conditions. The articles consider the mechanisms that were used to build upon the sacredness of water to enhance political authority through time and space and show that water was not merely an essential natural resource but an important spiritual one as well, and that its manipulation was socially far more complex than might appear at first glance. As these papers reveal, an understanding of materials associated with water can contribute much to the ways that archaeologists study ancient cultural systems. Precolumbian Water Management underscores the importance of water management research and the need to include it in archaeological projects of all types.

Sustainability and Water Management in the Maya World and Beyond

Author : Jean T. Larmon,Lisa J. Lucero,Fred Valdez Jr.
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 269 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2022-07-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781646422326

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Sustainability and Water Management in the Maya World and Beyond by Jean T. Larmon,Lisa J. Lucero,Fred Valdez Jr. Pdf

Sustainability and Water Management in the Maya World and Beyond investigates climate change and sustainability through time, exploring how political control of water sources, maintenance of sustainable systems, ideological relationships with water, and fluctuations in water availability have affected and been affected by social change. Contributors focus on and build upon earlier investigations of the global diversity of water management systems and the successes and failures of their employment, while applying a multitude of perspectives on sustainability. The volume focuses primarily on the Precolumbian Maya but offers several analogous case studies outside the ancient Maya world that illustrate the pervasiveness of water’s role in sustainability, including an ethnographic study of the sustainability of small-scale, farmer-managed irrigation systems in contemporary New Mexico and the environmental consequences of Angkor’s growth into the world’s most extensive preindustrial settlement. The archaeological record offers rich data on past politics of climate change, while epigraphic and ethnographic data show how integrated the ideological, political, and environmental worlds of the Maya were. While Sustainability and Water Management in the Maya World and Beyond stresses how lessons from the past offer invaluable insight into current approaches of adaptation, it also advances our understanding of those adaptations by making the inevitable discrepancies between past and present climate change less daunting and emphasizing the sustainable negotiations between humans and their surroundings that have been mediated by the changing climate for millennia. It will appeal to students and scholars interested in climate change, sustainability, and water management in the archaeological record. Contributors: Mary Jane Acuña, Wendy Ashmore, Timothy Beach, Jeffrey Brewer, Christopher Carr, Adrian S. Z. Chase, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, Carlos R. Chiriboga, Jennifer Chmilar, Nicholas Dunning, Maurits W. Ertsen, Roland Fletcher, David Friedel, Robert Griffin, Joel D. Gunn, Armando Anaya Hernández, Christian Isendahl, David Lentz, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Dan Penny, Kathryn Reese-Taylor, Michelle Rich, Cynthia Robin, Sylvia Rodríguez, William Saturno, Vernon Scarborough, Payson Sheets, Liwy Grazioso Sierra, Michael Smyth, Sander van der Leeuw, Andrew Wyatt

Water and Society from Ancient Times to the Present

Author : Federica Sulas,Innocent Pikirayi
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2018-08-14
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781317197379

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Water and Society from Ancient Times to the Present by Federica Sulas,Innocent Pikirayi Pdf

As water availability, management and conservation become global challenges, there is now wide consensus that historical knowledge can provide crucial information to address present crises, offering unique opportunities to appreciate the solutions and mechanisms societies have developed over time to deal with water in all its forms, from rainfall to groundwater. This unique collection explores how ancient water systems relate to present ideas of resilience and sustainability and can inform future strategy. Through an investigation of historic water management systems, along with the responses to, and impact of, various water-driven catastrophes, contributors to this volume present tenable solutions for the long-term use of water resources in different parts of the world. The discussion is not limited to issues of the past, seeking instead to address the resonance and legacy of water histories in the present and future. Water and Society from Ancient Times to the Present speaks to an archaeological and non-archaeological scholarly audience and will be a useful primary reference text for researchers and graduate students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds including archaeology, anthropology, history, ecology, geography, geology, architecture and development studies.

Imperfect Balance

Author : David Lewis Lentz
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Computers
ISBN : 0231111576

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Imperfect Balance by David Lewis Lentz Pdf

Together with experts in a variety of disciplines in the natural and social sciences--including botany, geology, ecology, geography and archaeology--Lentz investigates the history and effects of human impact on the environment in the New World before the arrival of the Europeans in the late 15th century. An Imperfect Balance offers an objective evaluation of "precontact era" land usage, demonstrating that native populations engaged in land management practices not entirely dissimilar to their European counterparts.

Handbook of Water Resources Management: Discourses, Concepts and Examples

Author : Janos J. Bogardi,Joyeeta Gupta,K. D. Wasantha Nandalal,Léna Salamé,Ronald R.P. van Nooijen,Navneet Kumar,Tawatchai Tingsanchali,Anik Bhaduri,Alla G. Kolechkina
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 820 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2021-06-12
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9783030601478

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Handbook of Water Resources Management: Discourses, Concepts and Examples by Janos J. Bogardi,Joyeeta Gupta,K. D. Wasantha Nandalal,Léna Salamé,Ronald R.P. van Nooijen,Navneet Kumar,Tawatchai Tingsanchali,Anik Bhaduri,Alla G. Kolechkina Pdf

This book provides an overview of facts, theories and methods from hydrology, geology, geophysics, law, ethics, economics, ecology, engineering, sociology, diplomacy and many other disciplines with relevance for concepts and practice of water resources management. It provides comprehensive, but also critical reading material for all communities involved in the ongoing water discourses and debates. The book refers to case studies in the form of boxes, sections, or as entire chapters. They illustrate success stories, but also lessons to be remembered, to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Based on consolidated state-of-the-art knowledge, it has been conceived and written to attract a multidisciplinary audience. The aim of this handbook is to facilitate understanding between the participants of the international water discourse and multi-level decision making processes. Knowing more about water, but also about concepts, methods and aspirations of different professional, disciplinary communities and stakeholders professionalizes the debate and enhances the decision making.

Islands in the Rainforest

Author : Stéphen Rostain
Publisher : Left Coast Press
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2012-11-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781598746341

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Islands in the Rainforest by Stéphen Rostain Pdf

Covers the area between the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, the Cassiquiare Canal, and the Atlantic Ocean (Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, parts of Brazil, parts of Venezuela).

Elixir

Author : Brian Fagan
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 410 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2011-06-07
Category : History
ISBN : 9781608193578

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Elixir by Brian Fagan Pdf

Elixir spans five millennia, from ancient Mesopotamia to the parched present of the Sun Belt. As Brian Fagan shows, every human society has been shaped by its relationship toour most essential resource. Fagan's sweeping narrative moves across the world, from ancient Greece and Rome, whose mighty aqueducts still supply modern cities, to China, where emperors marshaled armies of laborers in a centuries-long struggle to tame powerful rivers. He sets out three ages of water: In the first age, lasting thousands of years, water was scarce or at best unpredictable-so precious that it became sacred in almost every culture. By the time of the Industrial Revolution, human ingenuity had made water flow even in the most arid landscapes.This was the second age: water was no longer a mystical force to be worshipped and husbanded, but a commodity to be exploited. The American desert glittered with swimming pools- with little regard for sustainability. Today, we are entering a third age of water: As the earth's population approaches nine billion and ancient aquifers run dry,we will have to learn once again to show humility, even reverence, for this vital liquid. To solve the water crises of the future, we may need to adapt the water ethos of our ancestors.

Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Author : Sarah Kurnick,Joanne Baron
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2016-03-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781607324164

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Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica by Sarah Kurnick,Joanne Baron Pdf

Political authority contains an inherent contradiction. Rulers must reinforce social inequality and bolster their own unique position at the top of the sociopolitical hierarchy, yet simultaneously emphasize social similarities and the commonalities shared by all. Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica explores the different and complex ways that those who exercised authority in the region confronted this contradiction. New data from a variety of well-known scholars in Mesoamerican archaeology reveal the creation, perpetuation, and contestation of politically authoritative relationships between rulers and subjects and between nobles and commoners. The contributions span the geographic breadth and temporal extent of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica—from Preclassic Oaxaca to the Classic Petén region of Guatemala to the Postclassic Michoacán—and the contributors weave together archaeological, epigraphic, and ethnohistoric data. Grappling with the questions of how those exercising authority convince others to follow and why individuals often choose to recognize and comply with authority, Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica discusses why the study of political authority is both timely and significant, reviews how scholars have historically understood the operation of political authority, and proposes a new analytical framework to understand how rulers rule. Contributors include Sarah B. Barber, Joanne Baron, Christopher S. Beekman, Jeffrey Brzezinski, Bryce Davenport, Charles Golden, Takeshi Inomata, Arthur A. Joyce, Sarah Kurnick, Carlo J. Lucido, Simon Martin, Tatsuya Murakami, Helen Perlstein Pollard, and Víctor Salazar Chávez.

Of Rocks and Water

Author : mŸr Harman?ah
Publisher : Oxbow Books
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2014-07-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781782976721

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Of Rocks and Water by mŸr Harman?ah Pdf

People are drawn to places where geology performs its miracles: ice-cold spring waters gushing from the rock, mysterious caves which act as conduits for ancestors and divinities traveling back and forth to the underworld, sacred bodies of water where communities make libations and offer sacrifices. This volume presents a series of archaeological landscapes from the Iranian highlands to the Anatolian Plateau, and from the Mediterranean borderlands to Mesoamerica. Contributors all have a deep interest in the making and the long-term history of unorthodox places of human interaction with the mineral world, specifically the landscapes of rocks and water. Working with rock reliefs, sacred springs and lakes, caves, cairns, ruins and other meaningful places, they draw attention to the need for a rigorous field methodology and theoretical framework for working with such special places. At a time when network models, urban-centered and macro-scale perspectives dominate discussions of ancient landscapes, this unusual volume takes us to remote, unmappable places of cultural practice, social imagination and political appropriation. It offers not only a diverse set of case studies approaching small meaningful places in their special geological grounding, but also suggests new methodologies and interpretive approaches to understand places and the processes of place-making.

Building an Archaeology of Maya Urbanism

Author : Damien B. Marken,M. Charlotte Arnauld
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 493 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2023-07-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781646424092

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Building an Archaeology of Maya Urbanism by Damien B. Marken,M. Charlotte Arnauld Pdf

Building an Archaeology of Maya Urbanism tears down entrenched misconceptions of Maya cities to build a new archaeology of Maya urbanism by highlighting the residential dynamics that underwrote one of the most famous and debated civilizations of the ancient Americas. Exploring the diverse yet interrelated agents and processes that modified Maya urban landscapes over time, this volume highlights the adaptive flexibility of urbanization in the tropical Maya lowlands. Integrating recent lidar survey data with more traditional excavation and artifact-based archaeological practices, chapters in this volume offer broadened perspectives on the patterns of Maya urban design and planning by viewing bottom-up and self-organizing processes as integral to the form, development, and dissolution of Classic lowland cities alongside potentially centralized civic designs. Full of innovative examples of how to build an archaeology of urbanism that can be applied not just to the lowland Maya and across the region, Building an Archaeology of Maya Urbanism simultaneously improves interpretations of lowland Maya culture history and contributes to empirical and comparative discussions of tropical, non-Western cities worldwide. Contributors: Divina Perla Barrera, Arianna Campiani, Cyril Castanet, Adrian S. Z. Chase, Lydie Dussol, Sara Dzul Góngora, Keith Eppich, Thomas Garrison, María Rocio González de la Mata, Timothy Hare, Julien Hiquet, Takeshi Inomata, Eva Lemonnier, José Francisco Osorio León, Marilyn Masson, Elsa Damaris Menéndez, Timothy Murtha, Philippe Nondédéo, Keith M. Prufer, Louise Purdue, Francisco Pérez Ruíz, Julien Sion, Travis Stanton, Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo, Karl A. Taube, Marc Testé, Amy E. Thompson, Daniela Triadan

Global Perspectives on Long Term Community Resource Management

Author : Ludomir R. Lozny,Thomas H. McGovern
Publisher : Springer
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2019-06-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783030158002

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Global Perspectives on Long Term Community Resource Management by Ludomir R. Lozny,Thomas H. McGovern Pdf

Communal-level resource management successes and failures comprise complex interactions that involve local, regional, and (increasingly) global scale political, economic, and environmental changes, shown to have recurring patterns and trajectories. The human past provides examples of long-term millennial and century-scale successes followed by undesired transitions (“collapse”), and rapid failure of collaborative management cooperation on the decadal scale. Management of scarce resources and common properties presents a critical challenge for planners attempting to avoid the "tragedy of the commons" in this century. Here, anthropologists, human ecologists, archaeologists, and environmental scientists discuss strategies for social well-being in the context of diminishing resources and increasing competition. The contributors in this volume revisit “tragedy of the commons” (also referred to as “drama” or “comedy” of the commons) and examine new data and theories to mitigate pressures and devise models for sustainable communal welfare and development. They present twelve archaeological, historic, and ethnographic cases of user-managed resources to demonstrate that very basic community-level participatory governance can be a successful strategy to manage short-term risk and benefits. The book connects past-present-future by presenting geographically and chronologically spaced out examples of communal-level governance strategies, and overviews of the current cutting-edge research. The lesson we learn from studying past responses to various ecological stresses is that we must not wait for a disaster to happen to react, but must react to mitigate conditions for emerging disasters.

Water and Ritual

Author : Lisa J. Lucero
Publisher : University of Texas Press
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2009-07-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780292778238

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Water and Ritual by Lisa J. Lucero Pdf

In the southern Maya lowlands, rainfall provided the primary and, in some areas, the only source of water for people and crops. Classic Maya kings sponsored elaborate public rituals that affirmed their close ties to the supernatural world and their ability to intercede with deities and ancestors to ensure an adequate amount of rain, which was then stored to provide water during the four-to-five-month dry season. As long as the rains came, Maya kings supplied their subjects with water and exacted tribute in labor and goods in return. But when the rains failed at the end of the Classic period (AD 850-950), the Maya rulers lost both their claim to supernatural power and their temporal authority. Maya commoners continued to supplicate gods and ancestors for rain in household rituals, but they stopped paying tribute to rulers whom the gods had forsaken. In this paradigm-shifting book, Lisa Lucero investigates the central role of water and ritual in the rise, dominance, and fall of Classic Maya rulers. She documents commoner, elite, and royal ritual histories in the southern Maya lowlands from the Late Preclassic through the Terminal Classic periods to show how elites and rulers gained political power through the public replication and elaboration of household-level rituals. At the same time, Lucero demonstrates that political power rested equally on material conditions that the Maya rulers could only partially control. Offering a new, more nuanced understanding of these dual bases of power, Lucero makes a compelling case for spiritual and material factors intermingling in the development and demise of Maya political complexity.

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology

Author : Christian Isendahl,Daryl Stump
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 576 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2019-01-10
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780191653346

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The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology by Christian Isendahl,Daryl Stump Pdf

The Oxford Handbook of Historical Ecology and Applied Archaeology presents theoretical discussions, methodological outlines, and case-studies describing the field of overlap between historical ecology and the emerging sub-discipline of applied archaeology to highlight how modern environments and landscapes have been shaped by humans. Historical ecology is based on the recognition that humans are not only capable of modifying their environments, but that all environments on earth have already been directly or indirectly modified. This includes anthropogenic climate change, widespread deforestations, and species extinctions, but also very local alterations, the effects of which may last a few years, or may have legacies lasting centuries or more. With contributions from anthropologists, archaeologists, human geographers, and historians, this volume focuses not just on defining human impacts in the past, but on the ways that understanding these changes can help inform contemporary practices and development policies. Some chapters present examples of how ancient or current societies have modified their environments in sustainable ways, while others highlight practices that had unintended long-term consequences. The possibilities of learning from these practices are discussed, as is the potential of using the long history of human resource exploitation as a method for building or testing models of future change. The volume offers overviews for students, researchers, and professionals with an interest in conservation or development projects who want to understand what practical insights can be drawn from history, and who seek to apply their work to contemporary issues.

The Hydraulic System of Uxul

Author : Nicolaus Seefeld
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Page : 545 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2018-09-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781784919306

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The Hydraulic System of Uxul by Nicolaus Seefeld Pdf

This research seeks to close an essential research gap – the understanding of the water management strategies of the Maya in pre-Hispanic times. It focuses on the archaeological investigation of the hydraulic system of Uxul, a medium-sized Maya centre in the south of the state of Campeche, Mexico.

Water Histories and Spatial Archaeology

Author : Michael J. Harrower
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 229 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2016-05-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107134652

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Water Histories and Spatial Archaeology by Michael J. Harrower Pdf

Compares ancient Southwest Arabia with the American West to illustrate revealing similarities and contrasts surrounding water usage.