Suchergebnisse

The temples and monuments of Copan are replete with symbols of water and sustenance, both important forces in the development of social complexity throughout the region and prevalent in Mesoamerica. Our work reveals that the water systems managed in Copan and neighboring regions of Honduras have a long history and they manifest in diverse forms. Besides their functional utilization, from irrigation to water storage, water sources and systems had numerous religious uses. We will discuss how water was conceived, used and represented in ancient times as well as we believe its sacred character was utilized in art to elevate political authority. From our research we know that communal organization was important to the successful management of ancient water systems. It might be that some of those methods are relevant to improve life conditions in current landscapes, to assure potable water and improve harvests. ; Los templos y monumentos de Copán están repletos de símbolos del agua y de sustento, ambas fuerzas importantes en el desarrollo de complejidad social a través de la región y prevalente en toda Mesoamérica. Nuestro trabajo revela que los sistemas de agua manejados en Copán y áreas circundantes de Honduras tienen una historia larga y se manifiestan en diversas formas. Además de funciones prácticas, desde irrigación hasta el almacenamiento de agua, las fuentes y sistemas de agua tenían numerosos usos religiosos. Discutiremos cómo se concebía, usaba y se representaba el agua en tiempos antiguos y las formas que en que creemos se utilizaba su carácter sagrado en el arte para elevar la autoridad política. Por medio de nuestras investigaciones sabemos que la organización comunitaria era importante para la operación exitosa del manejo de los sistemas antiguos de agua. Puede que algunos de estos métodos sean relevantes en los paisajes actuales para mejorar las condiciones de vida, asegurar la potabilidad del agua y mejorar las cosechas.

In northwest Honduras, community-based interventions by outside development agencies seeking to assist communities with the treatment and delivery of potable water have been largely ineffective. This article examines the social, economic, ecological, and engineered contexts of gravity-fed water systems in the Palmarejo Valley of this region, identifying key barriers to long-term sustainability. Drawing from the results of our mixed-methods research in the valley incorporating ethnographic and spatial analyses along with water quality testing, we outline the limitations of community-based development approaches that ignore the broader social and political scales of resource inequalities. We find that water provisioning often requires coordination of activities at broader sociospatial and sociopolitical scales, which implicate the involvement of multiple communities with competing interests, variable power, and divergent claims on resources. We argue that community-scaled approaches to intervention are unable to mitigate the pressures on water resources that emerge in and extend to other scales, because they cannot adequately recognize and attend to cross-scale dynamics. We propose that development planning agencies may find more sustainable solutions to water resource challenges if communities are recognized as historically changing networks of actors and institutions operating according to diverse motivations and desires.

In northwest Honduras, community-based interventions by outside development agencies seeking to assist communities with the treatment and delivery of potable water have been largely ineffective. This article examines the social, economic, ecological, and engineered contexts of gravity-fed water systems in the Palmarejo Valley of this region, identifying key barriers to long-term sustainability. Drawing from the results of our mixed-methods research in the valley incorporating ethnographic and spatial analyses along with water quality testing, we outline the limitations of community-based development approaches that ignore the broader social and political scales of resource inequalities. We find that water provisioning often requires coordination of activities at broader sociospatial and sociopolitical scales, which implicate the involvement of multiple communities with competing interests, variable power, and divergent claims on resources. We argue that community-scaled approaches to intervention are unable to mitigate the pressures on water resources that emerge in and extend to other scales, because they cannot adequately recognize and attend to cross-scale dynamics. We propose that development planning agencies may find more sustainable solutions to water resource challenges if communities are recognized as historically changing networks of actors and institutions operating according to diverse motivations and desires.