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Summary The relationship between ecosystem disturbance and biodiversity levels has been a central focus of ecological research for the past half-century. The intermediate disturbance hypothesis, which suggests that maximum biodiversity is achieved through the coexistence of early and late successional species, however, has been challenged for its lack of clarity regarding the intensity, duration and extent of disturbances. This Perspective article advocates for a broader biocultural framework to move from the notion of disturbance to an understanding of human–environment mediations. Our proposed biocultural hypothesis acknowledges that, in certain cultural contexts, interventions byHomo sapiensat different environmental scales – mainly at the landscape level – can generate peaks in beta and gamma biodiversity compared to reference ecosystems. We illustrate these human–environment mediations through studies conducted in the biocultural region of Mesoamerica and comparative research findings, particularly from the Amazon Basin and West and Central Africa. In our conclusions, we discuss the need to establish collaborative research programmes around the proposed biocultural hypothesis, addressing management and institutional actions that will strengthen the engagement of Indigenous people and rural local communities with their historical territories that we name ‘Priority Biocultural Areas’. 

Abstract What is involved in finding fields? Agricultural intensification and its archaeological correlates are not always obvious. Archaeologists frequently equatecapital‐based investment andarablefarming as the sole path to intensified production. The presence of terraces to slow water flows across land, canals to bring water to drier lands, and raised and drained fields to reduce water, are methods to bringmarginallands into productive use. Labor‐based economies, especially those of the Americas before European conquest, present an entirely distinct pathway toward intensification based on tending the landscape. Tropical societies in general, and the Maya in particular, demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the natural world, cultivating biological capital as a product of their culture with skill, hand tools, scheduling, and fire. Asynchronous and embedded fields transform into forests in a poly‐cultivation practice, emphasizing the diversity that prevails in tropical woodlands. As with most traditional land‐use systems around the world, the Mayamilpacycle reduces temperature and evapotranspiration, conserves water, maintains biodiversity, builds soil fertility, inhibits erosion, and nurtures people. Labor investmentsper sedo not leave direct evidence on the landscape, apart from the implicit density of settlement, yet the imprint of their management lies in the forest landscape itself. 

Abstract Survey teams at the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna have mapped 70 percent of its 20 km²area and revealed the extent of settlement around the city center. Large-scale civic architecture, and the distribution of smaller ceremonial groups and minor centers, reflect the wealth and power of Maya rulers presiding over the largest Classic period city in the upper Belize River area. Previous analyses suggest disparities in wealth at El Pilar were more nuanced than the elite/commoner dichotomy commonly invoked for Classic Maya society. This article works to understand wealth inequality at ancient El Pilar by computing Gini coefficients from areal and volumetric calculations of primary residential units—the class of settlement remains most likely to represent ancient households. Presentation of Gini coefficients and their potential interpretations follows a discussion of settlement classification and residential group labor investment. We conclude by contextualizing these results within prior settlement pattern analyses to explore how disparities in wealth may have been distributed across the physical and social landscape. 

Comparisons of Maya forest gardens, the economic botany of the Maya forest, and identifications of plant remains in archaeological contexts converge on the value of the Maya forest as the reflection of the selective favoring of useful plants over time and across space. We have evaluated trees conserved in Maya milpas and present here an annotated list of significant categories of uses that transcend the ordinary, and highlight the extraordinary appreciation of plants and their role in the historical and cultural ecology of land use. Recognition of land cover significance, biodiversity, water conservation, erosion management, soil fertility principles, animal habitat essentials, and support for communities are all entangled with the role of plants. With an example of 160 confirmed trees favored in Maya milpa agricultural fields, we provide a window into economic values that dominate the Maya forest.