Domesticating the island: Anthropogenic soils and landform modification as components of subsistence-resource acquisition strategies in Puerto Rico

Human decision-making and behavior occur over humanized spaces. On islands, maritime culture extends space beyond land and incorporates the sea and other islands joined by water, facilitating movement of people and ideas. Some of the ideas traveling with people are the strategies for food-procurement, which can modify the land and leave lasting evidence of social practice. Using geoarchaeological analyses, in this chapter we focus on Puerto Rico to consider how human activities modified the land within two archaeological sites of different periods: Angostura and Salto Arriba. The analysis reveals that Archaic settlement was more intense than expected, becoming an important pedogenic agent, while later Agroceramist occupation seems to have been more extensive but less intense, and included planned investment of time and effort to enhance land productivity. These techniques help us understand social processes and webs of relationships that are linked to the movement of traditional and local ecological knowledge.