Landesque capital as an alternative to food storage in Melanesia: Irrigated taro terraces in New Georgia,Solomon Islands

Abstract

In the Pacific islands, subsistence diversity made possible continuous production of food while well-developed exchange networks redistributed these foodstuffs as well as items within the prestige economy. All these were aspects of the ‘storage structures’ that enabled social and nutritional value to be saved, accumulated and later mobilised. In addition, there were investments in the land, landesque capital, which secured future food surpluses and so provided an alternative to food storage, in a region where the staple foods were mostly perishable, yams excepted, and food preservation was difficult. Landesque capital included such long-term improvements to productivity as terraces, mounds, irrigation channels, drainage ditches, soil structural changes and tree planting. These investments provided an effective alternative to food storage and made possible surplus production for exchange purposes. As an example, in the New Georgia group of the western Solomon Islands irrigated terraces, termed ruta, were constructed for growing the root crop taro (Colocasia esculenta). Surplus taro from ruta enabled inland groups to participate in regional exchange networks and so obtain the shell valuables that were produced by coastal groups. In this paper, we reconstruct how this exchange system worked in New Georgia using ethno-archaeological evidence, we chart its prehistoric rise and post-colonial fall, and we outline the factors that constrained its long-term expansion.     

Evaluating soil resilience in long-term cultivation: a study of pre-Columbian terraces from the Paca Valley, Peru

This study evaluated the soil properties of pre-Hispanic stone-walled terraces by comparing soil quality along terraced catenas in the Paca Valley, a tributary of the Mantaro Valley, Peru. Micromorphological and bulk analyses of terrace soils revealed that despite terracing soil horizonation largely followed the catena. Upland terraced fields had deeper A-horizons with higher biotic activity than uncultivated controls, but less fine material and greater carbonate accumulation. Midslope fields were highly variable in depth and soil properties reflecting considerable substrate and anthropogenic variations in this growing zone. Silts and clay accumulated in valley bottom terraces where pedofeatures indicate an ongoing downhill movement of fine material. The distribution of soil separates down Paca hillsides demonstrates that terraces help moderate, rather than control, the erosion of key soil fractions required for long-term agricultural productivity. This study illustrates how the loss of fine material is partly mitigated by soil consolidation in dense topsoil peds, microaggregates and saprolite. These aggregates are retained by terraces and contribute to deep soil profiles. Nevertheless, many fields show signs of degradation, especially from insufficient organic matter amendment. In addition to farming itself, buried soils and associated artefacts in valley bottom fields indicate mass soil movement, a likely result of disruption caused by Inca road and terrace construction. The poor soil quality of many upland terraces also confirms that stone-walled terraces were constructed on mediocre substrates for farming, indicating a high labour investment for marginal agricultural returns in these areas. Overall, Paca Valley terraces improve topsoil retention and promote deep soil profiles. However, these fields present quite varied growing substrates. It is also apparent that over the last millennium, soil depletion from cultivation has compromised soil quality through loss of fine material and organic matter. Shifts in farming practice away from pre-Hispanic practices such as long-fallow and middening appear to exacerbate this trend.     

遗产化与旅游化对地方文化记忆系统的影响——以元阳哈尼梯田为例

文化记忆具有复杂系统性,从单一要素理解可能导致对遗产保护与旅游发展关系的误解,不利于地方文化记忆与文化认同的传承。本文采用质性方法分析元阳哈尼梯田遗产化与旅游化对文化记忆的影响。研究发现：一方面,权威话语主导的遗产化通过遗产归属族群、核心区与核心要素选取与认定等途径将文化记忆的主体、媒介、空间等系统要素建构为哈尼化的核心—边缘结构,导致遗产地文化记忆系统内不同主体、空间与媒介的发展失调。另一方面,市场话语主导的旅游化通过多主体参与、核心景点与周边村落协同发展及多元媒介要素展演的路径解构文化记忆系统的主体、媒介、空间等要素,在一定程度上消解了权威遗产化带来文化记忆系统要素的核心—边缘化消极影响。     

元阳哈尼梯田遗产化与旅游化的关系演变与互动机制

遗产化与旅游化已成为地方社会经济发展的重要活动，历时性地理解两者的互动关系及其影响因素具有重要意义。研究发现，元阳哈尼梯田遗产化与旅游化发生的时空背景基本相同，但关键施动主体与客体不同，形成二者关系演变的基础；地方先后经历了“旅游化启蒙遗产化、遗产化与旅游化相互促进、旅游化阻碍遗产化、遗产化加快旅游化”四个阶段；其中，“摄影师”、“政府部门、专家学者、大众传媒”、“社区居民与旅游企业及外来商人之间的矛盾、生态环境问题、地方贫困”、“地方政府、旅游企业、社区居民”等关键行动者分别依次发挥了主要作用，影响着二者关系的格局变化。     

Geoarchaeology at Gi,a middle stone age and later stone age site in the Northwest Kalahari

Gi with sealed middle stone age and later stone age occurrences is located in the Dobe Valley along the Botswana-Namibia border. The phases of middle stone age settlement were linked to a semiarid streamway during the early Upper Pleistocene. A major humid interval followed, when a large lake was ponded in the Dobe Valley. Later stone age settlement appeared after this lake disappeared and was replaced by a mosaic of pans (ephemeral lakes). Subsequently, another period of humid environment favoured another valley-wide lake during the late Upper Pleistocene. Later stone age settlement resumed when this second lake deteriorated into the modern pan terrains of the Dobe Valley. In total, the Gi beds record multiple environmental changes both more humid and more arid than present during the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene, as well as a variable array of adaptive opportunities for prehistoric settlement.