Mesoamerica as an Assemblage of Institutions

Kowalewski, Stephen A.; Espinoza, Verenice Y. Heredia

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-51437-2_22

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…This was a time in Mesoamerica when bands of hunter-gatherers and incipient horticulturalists likely lived in only seasonal aggregations rather than permanent villages (Borejsza, 2021; Rosenswig, 2015), which MacNeish interpreted in the Tehuacán Valley as microband and macroband camps located near springs and waterways. Deep histories of institutional arrangements for managing water in Mesoamerica have been inferred (Kowalewski and Espinoza, 2020), but this study is the first to recognize that these relationships extend into the Archaic period. Other studies of collective action in Mesoamerica related to water or food production focused on agricultural intensification or urbanism (e.g.…”

Section: Conclusion: Tehuacán As a Long-term Socio-hydrological Systemmentioning

confidence: 89%

Relict canals of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico: A Middle- to Late-Holocene dryland socio-hydrological system

2022

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The travertine-lined irrigation canal networks of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico allowed pre-Hispanic indigenous communities to overcome risks of crop failures in an arid setting. Segments of these systems are still in use today, therefore understanding when and how these irrigation networks functioned allows us to identify which attributes of a coupled socio-hydrological system are important for maintaining the long-term resilience of irrigation systems in drylands. This paper summarizes the results of an interdisciplinary study of this prehispanic irrigation network involving mapping, radiometric dating, and diatom analyses of materials extracted from the travertine lined canals. All of the canal networks were functioning by ca. 2000 BC, at the transition from the Late Archaic to the Formative period, which is before archeological evidence for widespread community-level aggregation. Provocatively, some canals are potentially as old as 6000–4000 BC, which would mean that hunter-gatherers initiated irrigation coevally with the introduction of semi-domesticated maize, a tropical species which would require supplemental water in this arid context. The canals both facilitated agricultural intensification and enhanced the distribution of aquatic ecosystems. The resilience of these systems to their unique spring dependent context demanded frequent maintenance and the integration of multiple canal networks to mitigate geohydrological vulnerabilities of reduced discharge. These conditions set up a long-term reciprocal dynamic between people and water in the Tehuacán Valley. The results demonstrate that rigidities inherent to tightly coupled socio-hydrological systems in dryland settings were overcome by institutional arrangements first developed by indigenous communities deep in prehistory.

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Section: Conclusion: Tehuacán As a Long-term Socio-hydrological Systemmentioning

confidence: 89%

Relict canals of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico: A Middle- to Late-Holocene dryland socio-hydrological system

2022

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“…These dynamics may also predate 100,000 years ago. One of us has argued previously how violent competition between factions/groups, both intra- or intersocietal, is a key factor for development of sociopolitical complexity and innovations in cultural institutions (Kim, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%

Capacities for peace, and war, are old and related to Homo construction of worlds and communities

Fuentes,

Kim,

Kissel

2024

Behav Brain Sci

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“…Archaeologically, ISUs may be manifested in the form of neighborhoods and districts. What ISUs are, how they are created, how they function, and how they can be detected archaeologically are important topics in the literature (Arnauld et al 2012; Blanton and Fargher 2011, 2012; Chase 2016; Fargher et al 2014, 2019; Kowalewski and Heredia 2020; Smith 2010; Smith and Novic 2012; Thompson et al 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Built Environment and the Development of Intermediate Socio-Spatial Units at Los Guachimontones, Jalisco, Mexico

Espinoza

2021

Latin Am. antiq.

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Intermediate socio-spatial units (ISUs), materialized as neighborhoods and districts, were important elements in the ordering of the built environment in large ancient settlements. They are indicative of an increasing vertical and horizontal complexity because they lie between households and the governing authority. Collective action theory holds that ISUs can take many forms and can be created through bottom-up, top-down, or top-down/bottom-up processes. The distribution of ISUs in the context of other architectural elements illuminates the degree to which collective policies shaped urban landscapes. This article identifies districts and neighborhoods, two types of ISUs, at the site of Los Guachimontones (Jalisco, Mexico) through a study of its internal spatial organization. Intensive survey and mapping have identified thousands of architectural elements, including the circular complexes known as guachimontones. Thiessen polygon analysis reveals that guachimontones are an important feature of the site's spatial organization, as well as to the materialization of ISUs and other socio-spatial units. Broadly speaking, the organization of these built spaces reveals that their growth can be attributed to collectively oriented political strategies.

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Mesoamerica as an Assemblage of Institutions

Cited by 16 publications

References 49 publications

Relict canals of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico: A Middle- to Late-Holocene dryland socio-hydrological system

Relict canals of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico: A Middle- to Late-Holocene dryland socio-hydrological system

Capacities for peace, and war, are old and related to Homo construction of worlds and communities

The Built Environment and the Development of Intermediate Socio-Spatial Units at Los Guachimontones, Jalisco, Mexico

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