Energetic efficiency and political expediency in Titicaca Basin raised field agriculture

Vast tracts of prehistoric raised fields are present in the Titicaca Basin of Bolivia and Peru. Archaeologists at present consider raised field agriculture to have been much more productive and efficient than the rain-fed dryland agriculture currently practiced in the region. However, the recent failure of a number of long-term raised field rehabilitation projects has called this understanding into question. In this paper, I review the production, labor requirements, and energetic efficiency of raised field agriculture. Contrary to the existing literature, I conclude that raised field agriculture was always somewhat less efficient than traditional rain-fed dryland agriculture. Finally, I propose a new model of the political economic role of raised field agriculture. In order to appreciate the role played by raised fields in ancient Andean complex polities it is necessary to abandon the unrealistic model of raised field agriculture currently dominant in the archaeological literature.