University of Pennsylvania

ScholarlyCommons
Department of Anthropology Papers Department of Anthropology

9-1-1999

Neo-Environmental Determinism and Agrarian

"Collapse" in Andean Prehistory
Clark L. Erickson
University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]

This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/anthro_papers/12

For more information, please contact [email protected].
Neo-Environmental Determinism and Agrarian "Collapse" in Andean
Prehistory
Keywords
landscapes, drought, climate change, South America

Disciplines
Anthropology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/anthro_papers/12

 ANTIQUITY
VOLUME73 NUMBER 281 SEPTEMBER 1999

Neo-environmental determinism and

agrarian 'collapse' in Andean prehistory

Key-words: landscapes, drought, climate change, South America

Introduction: neo-environmentalism in be explained by climatic shifts in rainfall and

Andean archaeology temperature (e.g. Shimada et al. 1991; Cardich
In early anthropology, environmental determin- 1985). These ideas appear and disappear in
ism was used to explain race, human demogra- regular cycles of about 20 years for the south
phy, material culture, cultural variation and central Andes. The 'collapse hypothesis' recently
cultural change. As anthropological interpreta- proposed by Kolata, Binford and Ortloff (Kolata
tion evolved, simplistic reductionist thinking was 1993; Kolata 1996; Binford et al. 1997) for the
replaced with more complex socio-cultural ex- collapse of the Tiwanaku civilization bears a
planations. Despite these theoretical advances, striking resemblance to that proposed by Puleson
environmental determinism continues to be in- (1976) for the explanation of the 'horizon/in-
voked to explain Andean prehistory. The rise termediate period' phenomena in Andean pre-
and fall of Andean civilizations are 'mapped history, and that proposed by Posnansky (1945)
onto' sediment cores, pollen diagrams and ice for the collapse of Tiwanaku. Since much of
cores and somehow this 'explains' cultural the world is still recovering from a major El
change. In the extreme incarnations of neo- Nio event, a critical examination of neo-en-
environmental determinism, humans are con- vironmental determinist explanation is relevant.
sidered passive pawns at the mercy of droughts According to Kolata and colleagues (1997:
and floods. I will evaluate a recent hypothesis 235), 'Environmental thresholds vary through
proposed to explain the collapse of the Tiwanaku time as climate changes, populations grow,
State and raised-field agriculture from a land- cultures and their technologies evolve, and
scape perspective informed by a 'bottom-up resources are depleted and substituted'. They
approach' to Pre-Columbian farming systems, define an environmental threshold as 'climatic
the ethnography of wetland peoples and insights extremes that limit the complexity of cultural
from the New Ecology. development'. In this perspective (Binford et
al. 1997: 246),
The collapse hypothesis
Andean archaeologists have long been infatu- "Human cultures adapt to changing environmental
ated with the idea that cultural change could conditions within a range of normal variation. 'Nor-

* Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 33rd and Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA 19104-6398, USA.
[email protected]
ANTIQUITY 73 (1999): 634-42
 DYNAMIC LANDSCAPES AND SOCIO-POLITICAL PROCESS 635

mal' is usually defined by recent and short-time scales, centres collapsed 100-200 years before the
rather than by long-term variability during which supposed onset of the drought (Kolata & Ortloff
thresholds at environmental extremes can signifi- 1996: 196, table 8.3). Archaeological excavati
cantly affect cultural adaptability. In commonly d e - in Koani Pampa and H u a t t a d emonstrates
fined normal periods, thresholds can be exceeded
that raised fields continued to be constructed
for short periods without seriously affecting a civi-
lization. However, in the long term, lower frequency and used at a regional scale for at least 300 years
variation with larger amplitudes may exceed the limits after the collapse of Tiwanaku (Seddon 1994;
of human adaptability." Erickson 1996; n.d.).

According to the collapse hypothesis for Climate change in the Lake Titicaca Basin
Tiwanaku, the threshold was exceeded when and the new ecology
'chronic drought' conditions prevailed in the Kolata and colleagues assume that there is a
South Central Andes after AD 1150. 'normal' climate or set 'normal' range of cli-
Kolata and colleagues have marshalled im- mate variation for the Lake Titicaca basin. They
pressive evidence from the Quelccaya ice cores, use the lake-level records for this century and
sediment cores from Lake Titicaca, water budget the precipitation records derived from the
modelling and archaeological excavations in Quelccaya ice core as their baseline. Any long-
raised fields. The scenario of Tiwanaku collapse term major deviation from this 'norm' is con-
can be summarized as follows: a drastic rain- sidered to exceed the 'environmental threshold'.
fall deficit beginning at AD 1150 caused a Their model focuses only on declining precipi-
'chronic drought' of 300 years. The water level tation and drop in lake levels over long peri-
of Lake Titicaca dropped between 1 2 and 1 7 m ods, which they interpret as evidence of severe
and much of the lake was reduced to a saline drought. They ignore the fact that periods of
swamp surrounded by a bleak arid landscape. decrease in precipitation and lowering of lake
The raised-field system was abruptly abandoned levels are always followed by periods of increas-
because it became impossible to maintain due ing precipitation and rise of lake levels
to drought conditions, higher labour costs and (Monheim1963). In the historical record, these
salinization. Because Tiwanaku's food produc- periods often resulted in massive floods around
tion was based on intensive agriculture, the the lakeshore. Because of their focus on long-
collapse of the regional raised-field system term trends, Kolata and colleague overlook the
brought on the collapse of the Tiwanaku ur- evidence for short-term episodes of 'excess' pre-
ban centre and state administration. Populations cipitation during the presumed 'chronic drought'
dispersed and migrated out of the region. Ac- that are clearly recorded i n the Quelccaya ice
cording to Kolata and colleagues, this resulted records (Kolata & Ortloff 1996: figures 8.3-8.7).
in a total 'cultural collapse', plunging the Lake The 'New Ecology' provides a more sophis-
Titicaca basin into a post-Tiwanaku 'Dark Ages' ticated perspective for understanding the dy-
lasting until the conquest of the region by the namics of cultural landscapes than the
Inka in the late 15th century. A corollary to traditional equilibrium and homeostasis model
the 'collapse hypothesis' is that between AD 600 applied by Kolata and colleagues. Botkin (1990),
and 1100, climatic conditions were favourable a major proponent of the New Ecology, stresses
to raised-field agriculture, thus Tiwanaku civi- that environments are dynamic and historically
lization flourished. contingent. These insights overlap with the
There are problems with the evidence for anthropological and historical approaches taken
the drought. The AMS samples used to date in the archaeology of landscapes and histori-
the drought were freshwater snails and marsh cal ecology (Ashmore & Knapp 1999; Bender
reed seeds, possibly not the best class of or- 1998; Crumley1994; Tilley 1994, Erickson 1993;
ganic material to date a drought. The sediment n.d.). As Zimmerer notes (1994: 108),'the new
hiatuses, which presumably date the drought, ecology accents disequilibria, instability, and
range between AD 263 and 1323 and between even chaotic fluctuations in biophysical envi-
AD 584 and 1461 (Abbott et al. 1997). It is ob- ronments, both "natural" and human-impacted',
vious that the chronology of the drought is far There is no 'normal' climate around which rain-
from precise. Archaeological evidence shows fall or temperature varies or changes. This per-
that Tiwanaku's primary and secondary urban spective also incorporates long-term human
636 SPECIAL SECTION

archaeological site
FIGURE 1. Map of the
verified raised fields Lake Titicaca region
potential raised fields showing locations of
places referred to in
the text.

activities as an important factor in the chaotic regular precipitation.Despite these environrnen-

dynamics of landscapes. The usefulness of the tal conditions, the lake region is one of the most
concept of human adaptation to natural envi- densely populated rural areas in the Andes and
ronments or 'a range of normal variation' of has been for thousands of years. Aymara and
climate is called into question. In the Lake Quechua, who make up the majority of the in-
Titicaca region, human activities have trans- habitants, intensively farm an anthropogenic
formed 'nature' into a totally anthropogenic landscape inherited from the prehispanic in-
landscape over a period of 9-10,000 years habitants. These peoples transformed and man-
(Erickson in press). What is 'nature' or 'natu- aged the agricultural land and 'natural' resources
ral' in this context? through the establishment of raised fields, ter-
races, sunken gardens and other artificial land-
Human response to past and present scape features.
climatic fluctuation If we accept that the environment of Lake
Lake Titicaca is located at 3800 m above sea Titicaca is characterized by disequilibria, in-
level in the South Central Andes of present- stability and chaotic fluctuation, how do the
day Bolivia and Peru (Dejoux and Iltis 1992) Quechua and Aymara inhabitants past and
(FIGURE 1).Western-trained agronomists char- present confront and thrive in climatic may-
acterize the area as marginal for agriculture hem? One coping strategy is the creation, main-
because of the high altitude, poor thin soils, tenance, and expansion of 'landscape capital'
frequent frosts, short growing season and ir- (Blaikie & Brookfield 1989). The walls, fields,
 DYNAMIC LANDSCAPES AND SOCIO-POLITICAL PROCESS 637

FIGURE 2. Graph
showing variation of
the water levels of
Lake Titicaca between
191 4 and 1989 w
W w w w w w w
(adapted from Roche o o o
0 0
o
et a]. 1992: figure 10). Year

canals, paths, settlement mounds, soil improve- continuous years in the 18th century and 15
ments and terraces created by hundreds of gen- continuous years in this century (Monheim
erations of earlier farming peoples are part of 1963). During 1860-65 and 1959-60, commu-
the inheritance that benefit their descendants nities confronted serious inundation. Many of
(Erickson 1993; in press). A related strategy is these historic droughts and floods are on a par
the transformation of and expansion of 'natu- with the so-called 'abnormal' climate phenom-
ral resources' such as wetlands through cul- ena recorded in the Quelccaya ice cores for the
tural practices into anthropogenic resources that prehistoric period. The historical documents
can be controlled and manipulated as the cli- show that these climatic events caused hardships
mate fluctuates (Nufiez 1986; Levieil & Orlove for the hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of
1990). Andean peoples have developed numer- the region. The droughts did not cause 'cultural
ous strategies such as field scattering, freeze- collapse', mass permanent migration out of the
dry storage of surplus production, diversification basin, nor abandonment of agriculture.
of agro-pastoral systems and sectorial fallow How do native peoples who live around the
to reduce agricultural risk (eg. Browrnan 1987; Lake Titicaca respond to drought? A common
Morlon 1992). We might now even ask how result of drought is the lowering of the lake
much of the evidence for 'climate change' re- level. Because of the topography of the flat lake
corded in sediment, pollen, and ice cores is plain, a drop of 1m can expose an estimated
actually the result of human farming activities 200,000 ha of previously submerged lake bed
and anthropogenic impact on regional environ- (FIGURE 3). During the long droughts of the 1860s
ment, rather than natural phenomena (Erickson and the 1940s, enormous areas of lake bed be-
in press)? came dry land. These areas have deep, organic-
Historical and lake-level records document rich soil that is highly prized by local farming
numerous short- and long-term droughts and communities (FIGURE 4). My informants i n
floods (Monheim 1963; Dejoux & Iltis 1992). Huatta eloquently spoke both of the horrors of
Records show the lake level has fluctuated 6.4 long-term drought and the joy of farming these
m in the past century (FIGURE 2). I personally new lands. They described piles of threshed
witnessed the human response to a serious quinoa and potatoes as large as houses.
drought during the 1982-83 El Nifio and a Huatteos also told of how the communities
record-breaking flood during 1985-86. In 1865- who control lakeshore territories managed to
70 and 1942-45, communities of the Lake become 'rich' during the droughts by selling
Titicaca region suffered through long periods the abundant surplus produced on newly ex-
of drought. There is evidence of droughts of posed lake bed and renting those lands to those
36 continuous years in the 17th century, 29 less fortunate.
638 SPECIAL SECTION

& Orlove 1990). Lacustrine resources are physi-

cally marked, regularly patrolled and defended.
In Huatta and Coata, individuals and commu-
nities have established mojones, visible mark-
ers of stone and sod, and long linear ditches to
define the boundaries of these valuable farm-
lands that lie under water in most years (FIG-
URE 5). Another strategy is to establish
households on the large earthen mounds,
prehispanic settlements, clustered at the edge
of and within the shallows of Lake Titicaca.
Where no mounds exist, the Uru of Los Urus
and Quechua of Huatta establish communities
and gardens on floating islands made of totora
reeds (FIGURE 6). This diverse strategy of wetland
resource utilization has a 3,000-year history
(Erickson 1993; 1996). The continuity of farm-
ing settlements on valley floors, seasonally
flooded lake plain and natural and artificial
islands i n the lake is well-documented in the
archaeological settlement surveys (Albarracin
FIGURE 3. Bathymetric map of Lake Titicaca 1996; Albarracin & Mathews 1990; Graffam 1992;
showing areas susceptible to changes i n lake level Erickson 1993; n.d.).
(after Boulange & Aquize 1981). Mitigation of drought is one of the many of
the benefits of raised-field technology. Our
Historical records referring to the drought experiments demonstrate that water levels can
of 1890 are full of references to land disputes be manipulated in the deep, wide canals be-
between indigenous communities over control tween raised fields. The topography of raised
of farmland exposed by receding lakeshores. fields and the dead-end nature of many canals
Anthropologists have documented a number provides an excellent means of capturing rain-
of strategies used by lakeshore farming and fish- fall and preventing runoff during the growing
ing communities to control and manage the season. The severe drought of 1983-84 provided
wetland and lake resources (Nuez1984; Levieil an excellent test of raised-field agriculture.

FIGURE 4. The dry

lakebed near Huatta,
Peru, exposed during
the drought of 1982-
83. Note the rich dark
soils composed of
rotting organic matter
from the totora reed
swamps.
 DYNAMIC LANDSCAPES AND SOCIO-POLITICAL PROCESS 639

F IG U RE 5.
Precolumbian canals
crossing raised fields
near the lake shore i n
Huatta. The functions
of these canals
include channels for
reed boat traffic,
water management,
and boundary
markers for
community fields
(cultivated during
droughts) and aquatic
resources (exploited
during 'normal'
years).

FIGURE 6 . A 'floating
island' of the Uru with
potato gardens and
residences in the
totora reed marshes of
the Bay of Puno, Peru.
The platform i s
constructed of tons of
totora reed grown b y
the Uru and their
Aymara and Quechua
neighbours.
Nearly all crops planted on the hill slopes in tures in Huatta during the drought of 1982-83.
Huatta and surrounding communities failed We are convinced that raised fields were not
while raised fields produced some of the only all in use at the same time due to the unpre-
crops in the region. dictable climatic fluctuations. As lake levels
What was the effect of long-term drought on rise and fall, prehispanic farmers moved ac-
prehispanic raised-field agriculture? The cordingly to farm appropriate locations in the
120,000 ha of known raised fields are distrib- same way that Huatteo farmers do today. Some
uted in a variety of topographic locations. Aerial fields were apparently only used during peri-
photographs taken during a period of low lake ods of drought and others during times of flood-
level in the 1970s clearly show the patterns of ing (depending on the topographic location).
raised fields and canal networks that are un- Documents record the impact of the mas-
der water during most 'normal' years (FIGURE sive droughts of the 1860s and the 1940s on
7). We mapped many of these raised-field fea- native peoples living near the lake. The Uru
640 SPECIAL SECTION

FIGURE 7. Aerial
photograph of the dry
lake bed near Huatta
during the drought of
the 1970s. The
patterns of
abandoned raised
fields, boundary
canals and Pre-
Columbian
occupation mounds.

FIGURE 8. The pampa of

Huatta near Lake
Titicaca during the
flooding of 1986. Most
of the modern
households are located
on prehispanic
occupation mounds.

rely heavily on the resources of the wetlands, wetland homes, but had also re-established the
in particular totora reed that is used to con- entire totora-reed ecosystem. Totora reed is not
struct fishing boats and floating-island settle- a 'natural resource', but rather a aquatic crop
ments. Both of these major droughts wiped out that is planted and cultivated (Nuez 1984;
some 5 linear km of totora-reed swamps along Monheim 1963; Levieil & Orlove 1990). The
the Desaguadero River and several square kilo- Uru construct literal 'floating gardens' where
metres of reed swamps at the lake outlet near there is no dry land.
the town of Desaguadero. The Uru population Droughts are always followed by periods of
dispersed during the climax of the drought, most heavy rainfall (Monheim1963). This phenom-
moving in with their Aymara and Quechua enon, which regularly recharges the lake and
neighbours. According to Monheim (1963), aquifers, is ignored by Kolata and colleagues.
within a few years after the droughts ended, These rains often result in serious flooding of
the Uru had not only moved back to their the lake plain and have a substantial impact
 -DYNAMIC LANDSCAPES AND SOCIO-POLITICAL PROCESS 641

on farming communities. During the massive holdovers from the precolumbian past, the
floods of 1985-86, some 20,000 people were knowledge system and the landscape it trans-
temporarily left without homes and relocated formed are dynamic and flexible. Historical
on higher ground (FIGURE 8). Fields were in- records and ethnography provide rich informa-
undated and crops were lost. Mud-brick and tion on actual human response to climatic fluc-
sod houses and corrals collapsed after tuation. Culture in the Lake Titicaca basin did
floodwaters soaked their foundations. Farm not 'collapse' after the serious droughts and
families moved back to their home sites soon floods in recent history, nor did it 'collapse' in
after the waters receded. Within a few years, the post-Tiwanaku times. Pre-Columbian states
most had re-established their homes on the and urban centres were ephemeral, rising and
rubble of their previous houses. The long his- falling with some regularity in the Lake Titicaca
tory of building and rebuilding settlements is Basin. The timing of these phenomena may
documented in the complex stratigraphy of the relate to actual climatic fluctuations, although
prehispanic settlement mounds on the lake that would not be a satisfying or adequate an-
plain. There are thousands of these mounds thropological explanation of prehispanic cul-
dispersed across the lake plains, and many are tural change in the Andes. Farming communities
still occupied today. and intensive agriculture did not disappear
Raised fields also mitigate flooding. During during the post-Tiwanaku periods. In fact, the
most years, the lake plain is too wet for non- archaeological record for rural settlement and
raised-field agriculture. The raised platforms intensive agriculture during this period dem-
keep the crops from becoming waterlogged. Most onstrates continuity and expansion.
of the experimental raised fields produced a The neo-environmental determinist position
harvest during the largest flood in recent his- promoted by many Andean archaeologists views
tory (1985-1986).Some fields were inundated; humans as passive and incapable of adapting
but farmers were able to harvest them before to the long-term climatic change beyond some
they flooded. presumed environmental threshold. An archae-
ology of landscapes, combined with the insights
Conclusion of the New Ecology, provides a theoretically
For farming communities past and present, the robust alternative. In this perspective, humans
climate of the Lake Titicaca basin is risky, un- are considered active and dynamic agents who
predictable and chaotic. Peoples inhabiting the not only respond to the challenges of fluctua-
lake region have developed a complex indig- tion of climatic in their environments, but also
enous knowledge system that includes a so- create, shape and transform those very envi-
phisticated agricultural technology and elaborate ronments. Archaeology, ethnohistory and eth-
social strategies to mitigate both short- and long- nography have made many contributions to our
term climatic fluctuations. This knowledge has understanding of the human element in the
been worked out and fine-tuned by hundreds short- and long-term histories of dynamic en-
of generations of farmers. It has been passed vironments of the Andes. More importantly,
down through daily practice and oral history archaeology can shed light on rural lifeways
from generation to generation. The Quechua, and farming communities, the 'people without
Aymara and Uru have inherited the legacy, as history'. The vast accumulated knowledge and
living practices and as a material record em- abilities of these farmers are embedded in the
bedded in the landscape. Far from being static cultural landscape of the Lake Titicaca basin.

References
ABBOTT, M.G., M.W. BINFORD,M. BRENNER, J.H. CURTIS & K.R. ASHMORE, W. & A.B. KNAPP (ed.). 1999. The archaeologies of
KELTS. 1997. A 3,500 14Cyr high-resolution sediment record landscape: contemporaryperspectives. Oxford: Blackwell.
of lake level changes in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia/Peru, Qua- BENDER, B. 1998. Stonehenge: making space. Oxford: Berg.
ternary Research 47(2): 169-80. BINFORD,M., A. KOLATA, M. BRENNER,M.JANUSK,J SEDDON,
ALBARRACIN-JORDAN,1996. Tiwanaku: arqueologa regional M. ABBOTT J. CURTIS. 1997. Climate variation and the
y dinmica segmentaria. La Paz: Editores Plural. rise and fall of a n Andean civilization, Quaternary Re-
ALBARRACIN-JORDAN, J.E. MATHEWS. 1990. Asentamientos search 47: 2 3 5 4 8 .
Prehispnicos del Valle de Tiwanaku.La Paz: Producciones BLAIKIE,P. & H.C. BROOKFIELD. 1987. Land degradation and
CIMA. Tomo 1. society London: Methuen.
642 SPECIAL SECTION

BOTKIN, D. 1990. Discordant harmonies: A new ecologyfor the (Ed). 1996. Tiwanaku and its hinterland. Washington (DC):
twenty-first century. New York (NY): Oxford University Smithsonian Institution Press.
Press. KOLATA, A.L.&C. ORTLOFF. 1996. Agroecological perspectives on
BROWMAN, D.L. (ed.).1987. Arid land use strategies and risk the decline of the Tiwanaku state, in Kolata (ed.):181-202.
management in the Andes: a regional anthropological LEVIEIL, D.P. & B. ORLOVE. 1990. Local control of aquatic re-
perspective. Boulder (CO): Westview Press. sources: community and ecology in Lake Titicaca, Peru,
CARDICH, A. 1985. The fluctuating upper limits of cultivation American Anthropologist 92: 362-82.
i n the central Andes and their impact on Peruvian pre- MORLON, P. (ed.).1992. Comprender la agricultura campesina
history, Advances in World Archaeology 4: 293-333. en l o s Andes centrales: Peru-Bolivia. Lima: Instituto
CRUMLEY, C.L. (ed.). 1994. Historical ecology: cultural knowl- Francs de Estudios Andinos.
edge and changing landscapes. Santa Fe (NM): School MONHEIM,F. 1963. Contribuccidn a la climatologia e hidrologia
of American Research. de la Cuenca del Lago Titicaca. Puno: Universidad Tcnica
DEJOUX, C. & A . ILTIS(ed.). 1992. Lake Titicaca: a synthesis of del Altiplano.
limnological knowledge. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Nuez, M. 1984. Manejo y control de totorales en el Titicaca,
Publishers. Boletn del Instituto de Estudios Aymaras Serie 2, nmero
ERICKSON, C.L. 1993. The social organization of prehispanic 19, Abril: 4-19. Chucuito, Peru.
raised field agriculture in the Lake Titicaca Basin, i n V. POSNANSKY, A. 1945. Tihuanacu: The cradle of American man.
Scarborough & B. Isaac (ed.), Economic aspects of water New York (NY): J.J. Augustin.
management in fhe prehispanic new world: 369-426. PULESTON, A. 1976. Environment and empire: climatic factors
Greenwich (CT): JAI Press. Research in Economic An- i n prehistoric Andean culture change, World Archaeol-
thropology Supplement 7. ogy 8: 121-32.
1996. Investigacin arqueoldgica del sistema agrcola de SEDDON, M.T. 1994. Excavations in raised fields of the Rio Catari
l o scamellones en la Cuenca del Lago Titicaca del Peru. sub-basin, Bolivia. Unpublished Master's thesis, Depart-
La Paz: PIWA y el Centro de Informacin para el ment of Anthropology, University of Chicago.
Desarollo. S HIMADA, I., C.B. SCHAAF, L.G. THOMPSON & E. MOSELEY-
In press. The Lake Titicaca Basin: a pre-Columbian b u i l t THOMPSON.1991. Cultural impacts of severe droughts i n
landscape, i n D.L. Lentz (ed.), Pre-Columbian new world the prehistoric Andes: Applications of a 1,500-year ice
ecosystems. New York (NY): Columbia University Press. core precipitation record, WorldArchaeology 22: 247-
N.d. Waru Waru: Ancient Andean agriculture. Cambridge: 70.
Cambridge University Press. TILLEY, C. 1994. A phenomenology of landscape: places, paths,
GRAFFAM, G. 1992. Beyond state collapse: rural history, raised and monuments. Oxford: Berg.
fields, and pastoralism i n the South Andes, American ZIMMERER, K.S. 1994. Human geography and the 'new ecol-
Anthropologist 94(4): 882-904. ogy': the prospect and promise of integration, Annals of
KOLATA, A.L. 1993. The Tiwanaku. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. the American Association of Geographers 84(1):108-25.

Also see these publications: available as pdf files at

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/%7Ecerickso/articles/articles. html
Erickson Clark L.
2006 (with William Balee) Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands.
Columbla Unlverslty Press, New York.
2006 The Domesticated Landscapes of the Bolivian Amazon. IN Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology:
Studies in the Neotroplcal Lowlands. Columbla University Press, New York, pp. 235-278
2006 Intensification Political Economy, and the Farming Community: In Defense of a Bottom-Up Perspec-
tive of the Past. IN Agricultural Strategies. Edited by Joyce Marcus and Charles Stanish, Cotsen Institute of
Archaeology, Los Angeles, pp. 336-383.
2003 Agricultural Landscapes as World Heritage: Raised Field Agriculture in Bolivia and Peru. IN Managing
Chanae: Sustainable Approaches to the Conservation of the BuiltEnvironment.Editedb yJeanne-Marie
Teutonico and Frank Matero, 4th US/ICOMOS International Sy mposium Proceeding s Getty Conservation
Institute in collaboration with USIICOMOS, Oxford University Press,Oxford, pp. 181-204.
2000 The Lake Titicaca Basin: A Pre-Columbian Built Landscape. IN Imperfect Balance: Landscape Trans-
formations in the Precolumbian Americas. Edited by David Lentz, Columbla University Press, New York, pp.
311-356.
1994 Methodolog ical Considerations in the Study of Ancient Andean Field Systems. IN The Archaeology of
Garden and Field. edited by Kathryn Gleason and Naomi Miller, The University of Pennsylvania Press,
Philadelphia.
1998 Applied Archaeology and Rural Development: Archaeology's Potential Contribution to the Future. IN
Crossing Currents: Continuityand Change in Latin America. edited by M. Whiteford and S. Whiteford, Pren-
tice-Hall,
Upper Saddle, NJ, pp. 34-45.
1993 The Social Or anization of Prehispanic Raised Field Agriculture in the Lake Titicaca Basin. IN Eco-
nomlc Aspects of W a t e r M a n a g m e n t i n the Prehispanlc New World, Research i nEconomlc Anthropology,
Supplement No. 7, editedby Vernon Scarborough and Barry Isaac, JAI Press, pp. 369-426.