In
agriculture, a raised field is a large, cultivated elevation, typically bounded by water-filled ditches, that is used to allow cultivators to control environmental factors such as moisture levels, frost damage, and
flooding. Examples of raised field agriculture can be found among some Pre-Hispanic cultures of
Latin America, such as those from tropical lowlands and the
Budi Lake
Budi Lake ( es, Lago Budi, ) from the Mapudungun word ''Füzi'' which means salt, is a tidal brackish water lake located near the coast of La Araucanía Region, southern Chile. The lake is part of the boundaries between Saavedra and Teodoro Sc ...
Mapuche.
[ Dillehay, Tom D.; Pino Quivira, Mario; Bonzani, Renée; Silva, Claudia; Wallner, Johannes; Le Quesne, Carlos (2007]
Cultivated wetlands and emerging complexity in south-central Chile and long distance '' 81 (2007): 949–960
Pre-Hispanic raised fields are known from the region near Santa Cruz de Mompox in northern Colombia and in the Llanos de Moxos region of lowland Bolivia. In highland Bolivia, where this was utilized by the Tiwanaku culture near Lake Titicaca, this technique is known as ''
waru waru'' or ''camellones''. Ancient raised-field agriculture has also been documented in
Central America at
Pulltrouser Swamp
Pulltrouser Swamp is a wetland area located in northern Belize, between the New River (Belize) and Hondo River (Belize). This area contains numerous archaeological sites belonging to the Maya civilization, the most studied features of which are ...
in
Belize, where it was practiced by the
Maya civilization.
Toltec and
Aztec people also practiced raised-field agriculture on the shore of
Lake Texcoco, where these fields were known as ''
chinampa
Chinampa ( nah, chināmitl ) is a technique used in Mesoamerican agriculture which relies on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico. They are built up on wetlands of a lake o ...
s''.
References
History of agriculture
Landscape history
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