ABSTRACT
The recording of relic terraces and related stoneworks found through the Rio Bec region was accomplished by aerial survey, ground reconnaissance, mapping, and transect sampling. Relic terraces and related stoneworks, especially boundary walls, are ubiquitous throughout an area exceeding 10,000 square kilometers in the heart of the Rio Bec region of southern Campeche and Quintana Roo. The low, simple, and gently sloping terrace built in an open and non-entrenched drainage channel, employing a simple wier to spread naturally flowing water over a wider than natural surface, in such a manner as to soak the surface and cause the accumulation of silt. The broadbased form of embankment is not unique to the Rio Bec region but is common to terraces, ancient and modern, throughout the New World, particularly the andenes of South America. The connective system of terraces and walkways functioned as a transportation network, much in the fashion of the ancient terraces in parts of the Andes.
