180 

 terms), sakpaj (Brysonima bucidaefolid), and mamey (Calocarpus mammosum) are edible native plants 

 that thrive in the early successional stages of the forests that regrow in fallowed garden sites (Edwards, 

 1986; Murphy, 1990; Puleston, 1982). In addition, sapodilla (Manilkara zapota), mahogany (Swietenia 

 macrophylla), and cedar (Cedrela odorata) are valuable timber species that do not regrow quickly and 

 are consequentiy spared from felling by the Maya when gardens are cleared (Rewald, 1989), whereas 

 copal (Protium copal) and ramon (Brosimum alicastrum) may actually have been grown in plantations 

 by the ancient Maya (Roys, 1972). These examples suggest tiiat the ancient Maya had an extensive 

 knowledge of useful plants in the forest and were able to manage these species during several hundred 

 years. 



By managing these useful plant species in coordination with their gardening practices, Maya 

 gardeners created a habitat mosaic. This mosaic included gardens, fallow gardens, and managed 

 forests of various sizes and many age classes in close proximity to one another. Given the length of 

 Maya occupation of the Yucatan Peninsula (3,000-4,000 y) and the wide area over which shifting 

 cultivation has been practiced by these people (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras), the present 

 forests of the Yucatan Peninsula are considered by many scientists to be highly anthropogenic (Barrera 

 etal., 1977; Edwards, 1986; G6mez-Pompa et al., 1987; Lundell, 1933). 



In marked contrast to numerous studies on the impact of shifting cultivation on soils and plants 

 (e.g., Noguez-Galvez, 1991; Nye and Greenland, 1960), Uie impact of shifting cultivation on Uie 

 distribution and abundance of wildlife species in the Yucatan Peninsula, while discussed by some 

 researchers, has not been thoroughly investigated. This deficiency is especially glaring given the 

 importance, wide extent, and long history of subsistence hunting by the Maya (cf. Hamblin, 1984, 

 1985; Hamblin and Rea, 1985; Pohl, 1976, 1985; Reina, 1967; Wing and Steadman, 1980) and 

 evidence that this hunting may be dependent upon shifting cultivation. From a slightiy different 

 perspective, Uiis deficiency in garden studies is also serious because hunting yields by other indigenous 

 people practicing shifting cultivation have been shown to be a function of settiement age (Vickers, 

 1980, 1988, 1991). 



