Feeding the Masses at Miami Science Museum

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Feeding the Masses

In a land of volcanoes, jungles and forests, rocky soils and swampy flats, without beasts of burden or metal tools, the Maya achieved a sophisticated agricultural system that allowed at their peak the establishment of cities as large or larger than those in Europe.

After the hunter-gatherer period, the first organized agriculture developed along the coastal waterways and marches. Later maize agriculture was the foundation of civilization. Populations in densely forested regions, such as El Petén, “The cradle of the Maya civilization”, in Guatemala, developed “slash-and-burn” agriculture. They learned that the approach to feeding the masses was effective water management. They created forest gardens, raised field and terrace land-use techniques, and they farmed the “bajos”, the low-lying seasonally wet regions. They succeeded in a harsh environment.

Feb 13 2013

8-9:30 PM

Miami Science Museum

The Institute of Maya Studies meets at the Miami Science Museum,
 3280 South Miami Avenue, across from Vizcaya