The Archaeological Significance of Mahamaes Cultivation on the Coast of Peru

Abstract

AbstractRecent observations on the Central and North Coasts of Peru indicate the previously unrealized importance of a prehispanic agricultural technique (mahamaes) which permits effective cultivation of sizable areas without canal irrigation. Mahamaes cultivation may well have been significant in the origins of agriculture on the coast, and as a supplement to canal irrigation in later prehispanic times. Its apparent ability to support relatively large, sophisticated political structures suggests some reorganization of our thinking about the utility of the hydraulic agriculture model for coastal Peru.