Intensive agriculture and socio-political development in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico

Abstract

Intensive agriculture played a pivotal role in the development of archaic states, but there is considerable debate concerning its relationship to population growth, climatic variability, and centralization.

Recent Research in Western Mexican Archaeology

“…The fields finally achieved acceptance among prominent researchers of Mesoamerican agriculture (Whitmore and Turner 2002), but the peak of hierarchy in the area has now been redated to the Late Formative (Beekman and Weigand 2008). Clearly, the association of agricultural intensification with political centralization requires further research, and studies of early canal irrigation in the Pátzcuaro Basin have dated these examples to periods of political competition rather than state centralization (Fisher et al 1999).…”

“…221-223). Leadership positions were linked to warrior status (Pereira 1999) and have been argued to be associated with the earliest water control features in the Pátzcuaro Basin (Fisher et al 1999). Some of the new sites made use of the talud-tablero architectural facades so often associated with Teotihuacan but in forms that postdate that urban center (Beekman 1996a).…”

A reexamination of human-induced environmental change within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico

“…Today the region receives between 900 and 1,250 mm of rainfall per year, supporting diverse vegetation communities (42) (fir and pine, 2,500-3,300 m asl, pine and oak; Ͻ2,500 m asl, agricultural crops, grasses, and secondary vegetation). Extensive paleoenvironmental research within the Pátzcuaro Basin provides a record of landscape change throughout the Holocene (13,19,41,(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50) including three episodes of landscape instability: Unit II, 3,600-2,800 B.P. ; Unit IV, 2,500-1,200 B.P.…”

Archaeological Evidence of the Cultural Importance of Agave spp. in Pre-Hispanic Colima, Mexico

“…Use of agave to aid in rainwater catchment, erosion control, and soil loss, as well as to increase soil moisture content in parcels, could have facilitated agricultural intensification in the foothills. This has been reported among Mesoamerican farmers and in arid regions like southwestern United States (Anderies et al 2008;Evans 1992;Fisher et al 1999;Parker et al 2007;Trombold and Israde-Alcántara 2005).…”