The Fabricated Forest

Abstract

This dissertation approaches historical ecology as reflexive process, tying together archaeology, iconographic analysis, ethnography, and ethnohistory to argue that modern tropical ecosystems are the result of long-term, intentional engagement with human needs and priorites. Civilizational success in these environments, once thought to be marginal zones, required active and sensitive management of arboreal resources. Through a case study at the Late Preclassic and Late Classic inhabited Maya site of San Bartolo, Guatemala, I demonstrate the correspondence between the modern forest and ancient use patterns. The fieldwork component integrated silvicultural and ecohistorical development of the Petén. In conjunction with this interdisciplinary track, laboratory protocols were employed to secure ancient tree species identification on charcoal recovered from Late Classic internal chultún middens and a central plaza offering from the Preclassic period at Grupo Zacatál. Finally, connections are drawn between the archaeological data and iconographic depictions of arboreal elements present in the iconographic depictions from the site’s Preclassic structure, Las Pinturas, sub-1. Situating these remains in local context, I suggest that the canonical images form these mural scenes have connections to canonical images that appear throughout Mesoamerica, the Preclssic artists of San Bartolo connected the mythical actions to local space by adding botanical elements from species in their environment. While a full reconstruction of species exploitation and ancient silvicultural tactics are not possible from the analyses conducted in this dissertation alone, the establishment of silvicultural and archaeobotanical methods in tropical zones represents a crucial step towards more sophisticated analyses of anthropogenic ecological resilience and collapse.