Agricultural slope management and soil erosion at La Laguna, Tlaxcala, Mexico

Borejsza, Aleksander; López, Isabel Rodríguez; Frederick, Charles D.; Bateman, Mark D.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.11.024

Cited by 58 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Pérez Rodríguez (2006) combines household excavations with analysis of the extensive lama-bordo terracing system used by the Postclassic Mixtec in communities such as Nicayuju to argue for nonmanagerial, more bottom-up organization of terrace construction, coordinated by siqui corporate kin groups. Her study convincingly links archaeological remains to a system of land tenure, one of the most elusive elements of domestic economies in the archaeological record (other recent studies of domestic agriculture and terracing include Borejsza et al 2008;López Corral 2000.…”

Section: The Organization Of Houses and Neighborhoodsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Next, with population growth, village fissioning led to the colonization of relatively more marginal environments by migrants bringing a Mesoamerican version of the Neolithic package-domesticated plants, pottery, figurines, stone axes, and wattle-and-daub houses. Recent household archaeology in central and northern Tlaxcala (Borejsza et al 2008;Lesure et al 2006) and in the Acámbaro Valley of Guanajuato (Darras and Faugère 2007) illustrates this sequence particularly well. It is likely that other regions of the highlands also witnessed migrating agricultural villagers who either mixed with or replaced existing foraging populations, along with other documented cases of foragers who developed agriculture in situ.…”

Section: Origins Of Sedentary Village Lifementioning

confidence: 91%

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Advances in the Household Archaeology of Highland Mesoamerica

Carballo

2010

J Archaeol Res

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Recent investigations and reconsideration of households in the Mesoamerican highlands illustrate the central role of domestic spheres of interaction to the broader cultural dynamics of the region over four millennia. Methodological advances in the analysis of past houses permit more sophisticated social reconstructions of the spaces and activities that constituted domestic life for the diverse peoples of the region. Current studies highlight the economic interdependence and diversification of households, their strategic flexibility in affiliation, the integrative ritual practices undertaken within domestic spaces, the material correlates of prestige competition between households, and the manner in which households articulated with a larger social universe.

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Section: The Organization Of Houses and Neighborhoodsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Origins Of Sedentary Village Lifementioning

confidence: 91%

Advances in the Household Archaeology of Highland Mesoamerica

Carballo

2010

J Archaeol Res

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“…Prior research at La Laguna include its documentation in regional surveys (García Cook 1981;Merino Carrión 1989;Snow 1969), initial exploratory excavations (Lesure et al 2006), and the detailed reconstruction of its history of land use Borejsza et al 2008Borejsza et al , 2011. The Proyecto Arqueológico La Laguna (PALL) investigated domestic areas of the site and its central precinct of temple platforms, plazas, and ball court (Carballo , 2009(Carballo , 2012Carballo et al 2011Carballo et al , 2014.…”

Section: La Laguna and Its Excavation Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lithic Economies and Community Organization at La Laguna, Tlaxcala

Walton

Carballo

2016

Ancient Mesoam

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1 AbstractSite wide, assemblage based lithic analyses help to elucidate community dynamics including variability in domestic economies, technological skill and decision making, exchange networks, and ritual practices. In this study we present the results of an analysis of over 36,000 lithic artifacts from the site of La Laguna, Tlaxcala. We compare Middle/Late Formative period (ca. 600-400 B.C.) and Terminal Formative period (ca. 100 B.C.-A.D. 150) deposits to examine transformations associated with urbanization and state formation during this interval. The residents of La Laguna had relatively equal and ample access to obsidian, and most production was organized independently by households. We identify blade production zones and variability in consumption patterns suggestive of different domestic, communal, and ceremonial activities.The introduction of bloodletters, elaborate large bifacial knives, and zoomorphic eccentrics to the Terminal Formative assemblage may indicate the emergence of higher statuses, new social roles, and militaristic symbolism during this period.2 Lithic studies play a prominent role in reconstructions of ancient Mesoamerican domestic and ritual economies. Although analyses commonly employ data recovered from a particular site to evaluate macroregional trade and political economy models, site-based lithic assemblages are also of significant value in the analysis of intra-community dynamics (e.g. Hirth 2006). Analysis of lithic assemblages at the community level permits assessment of variability in household activities; the organization, technology, and sequencing of production; and the use of space within sites and particular structures

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“…In off-site excavations, and in particular in the case of terraces where the fill is constructed, we are always faced with intermixing of soil and the study of features must take this into account (Boissinot 2000: 38). Moreover, several recent studies on dating agrarian land transformations, and in particular terraces, have shown that multiplying the dates and contextualizing them within archaeological and sedimentary sequences enable the dates to be used profitably for archaeological analysis (see Schwartz et al 2003;Kemp et al 2006;Bal 2006;Bal et al 2010;Borejsza et al 2008;Frederick and Krahtopoulou 2008;Bevan et al 2013;Davidovich et al 2012). The 30 dates collected at the Vilalta site range from the 5th millennium B.C.…”

Section: Value and Significance Of Absolute Datesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Combining methods enabled us to compare a large number of stratigraphies and to understand the morphological dynamics of terrace systems within a relatively continuous area, which is fairly rare. Based on the considerable number of dates obtained, the goal was also to contribute to research on terrace systems in other regions, such as in South America (Sandor andEash 1991, 1995;Sandor 2006;Kemp et al 2006;Borejsza et al 2008;Acabado 2010) and in the Mediterranean (Bal 2006;Ballesteros Arias 2006, 2010Harfouche 2007;Riera and Palet 2008;Frederick and Krahtopoulou 2008;Quiros Castillo 2009;Bal et al 2010;Bevan et al 2013;Davidovich et al 2012). Thus, we also discuss the chronological relevance of the elements dated within the stratigraphies (see below).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing past terrace fields in the Pyrenees: Insights into land management and settlement from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern era at Vilalta (1650 masl, Cerdagne, France)

Rendu

Passarrius

Calastrenc

et al. 2015

Journal of Field Archaeology

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The building of a solar power station at Thé mis, at 1650 masl on the south-facing slope of the Carlit massif in the eastern Pyrenees, led to an archaeological evaluation from April-June 2009. This evaluation covered a surface of 10 ha that included a medieval village as well as the surrounding agricultural land in terraces. Non-destructive archaeological methods were used for the village. A detailed study of the 6 ha of terraces began with a fieldwalking survey, mapping every visible feature, followed by systematic trial trenches. Fifty-five trenches, 11 in the village and 44 in the fields, were opened. The stratigraphies were then compared with a series of 22 radiocarbon dates and eight relative dates provided by ceramic typologies. This combination of surface and buried evidence supported our preliminary hypothesis about the dynamics of the slope. The results suggest the existence of agrarian features beginning in the Bronze Age and reveal that the field patterns were frequently transformed, both in the Medieval and Early Modern periods. The transformations in the terrace fields after the village was abandoned are as interesting as those during occupation because, contrary to the idea of a fixed, unchanging landscape after the end of the Middle Ages, they challenge the idea that mountain zones are marginal spaces by nature, or were marginalized later.

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Agricultural slope management and soil erosion at La Laguna, Tlaxcala, Mexico

Cited by 58 publications

References 16 publications

Advances in the Household Archaeology of Highland Mesoamerica

Advances in the Household Archaeology of Highland Mesoamerica

Lithic Economies and Community Organization at La Laguna, Tlaxcala

Reconstructing past terrace fields in the Pyrenees: Insights into land management and settlement from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern era at Vilalta (1650 masl, Cerdagne, France)

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