Economy and agricultural intensification: Variability in trajectories of agricultural change in Prehispanic America

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Published: May 1, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21676/16574923.2927
Keywords:
Agricultural change; complex societies; landscape archaeology

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Juan Carlos Vargas
Universidad del Magdalena
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7933-629X

Abstract

The transition from subsistence economy to political economy has been recognized as one of the main transformations leading to the emergence of social complexity. The development of intensive agricultural strategies was critical for surplus accumulation as a first necessary step for the emergence of regional hierarchies. Landscapes are one of the main evidence archaeologists have used to demonstrate the relationship between agriculture and the emergence of social inequality worldwide. The construction of terraces, raised fields, and other kinds of facilities for cultivation, has been related by the archaeologists to the processes of economic intensification and the emergence of centralized political organization. This paper aims to present a discussion of several archaeological models in which the construction of structures for the production of food surpluses was critical for the emergence of social inequality. To achive this goal, a comparative analysis is presented here based on the archaeological record of the complex societies from the Calima region and the Llanos of Casanare (Colombia); the Black Warrior Valley (Mississippi) in the southeast of North America; and from the Llanos of Moxos (Bolivia), the Marajo Island (Brasil), the Yaguachi region (Ecuador) and the Llanos of Barinas (Venezuela). The main argument of this paper is that just as there were many different pathways to social change in the past, there were also different trajectories of agricultural change that could be related to the emergence of inequality and social complexity.
 
Keywords: Agricultural change, complex societies, landscape archaeology.

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How to Cite
Vargas, J. C. (2019). Economy and agricultural intensification: Variability in trajectories of agricultural change in Prehispanic America. Jangwa Pana, 18(2), 232–255. https://doi.org/10.21676/16574923.2927
Issue
Vol. 18 No. 2 (2019): Estudios sociales del Café: Miradas clásicas y contemporáneas
Section
General Section

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