Ridges or cheniers formed relatively high east-west oriented bodies of sand in eastern and central Suriname as a result of the specific deposition processes discussed above. These were the preferred places of settlement of pre-Columbian Indians in the coastal plain. The cheniers prevented easy access of sea water to the hinterland, keeping the water south of the cheniers fresh.
It is striking that in the specific area where the mounds were built, sizeable cheniers are lacking. Because the fresh-water habitat is indispensable for permanent human habitation, some unknown agent must be postulated as responsible. Perhaps a substantial extension of the coastline to the north, even including cheniers, characterized pre-Columbian conditions, but if so, evidence has long since been washed away.
The coastal plain is made up of fertile, young clay, and it is characterized by plant and animal life adapted to various freshwater, brackish, and saltwater environments. There are abundant systems of creeks and rivers with fewer obstacles such as waterfalls and rapids than in the interior; this makes travel by boat easier.
Dated layers of peat and pollen analysis show that between ca. AD 300 and 1000 freshwater conditions prevailed in the coastal plain of western Suriname, where there are few cheniers. That is the area west of the Burnside mound (Figure 17.2).
Groups of Indians reacted to the changing conditions by raising mounds of clay, with relatively small, square, agricultural plots nearby, consisting of clay bodies surrounded by trenches. This water management system made permanent farming possible. The fertility of raised fields can be sustained by spreading organic sediment from the ditches onto the fields.
Figure 17.2. The Burnside mound (Sur'306) (arrow) is the easternmost mound in West Suriname. In the background is the Atlantic Ocean. At present this former freshwater swamp is being converted into polders — tracts of land reclaimed through draining — by a channel system. (Aad Versteeg)
World History
