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LAND USE IN PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA

by

PEDRO A R M I L L A S

Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

EARL Y STAGES

Human occupation of th e Western Hemisphere is

comparatively recent, hut much older than was

aecepted a few deoades ago. The spread of man over

North Amenea during the last (Wisconsin) glaciationis well attested, au d th e terminal Pleistocene age for

remains found in southern South Amerloa is, likewise,heyond question. The gradient ofthe known carhon-14

dates au d other considerations Bupport t1 e generally

held view oí au -earIy drift migration from north to

south, through th e Central American funneI aud alongth e Andes, fanning ou t into th e Argentinian grasslands

an d Brazilian parklands, aIthough well substantiated

findings oí corresponding antiquity have no t heen

made in th e intervening area so far, no douht through

want of systematic search. I t is generally assumed

that th e early Americans avoided th e jungle regions,

which would have heen penetrated by man only with

th e development of adaptative technologies.Th e presence of man in America during th e last

glacial epoch, and in terms of absolute chronology

since 12,000 years ago; is proven geologically an d

palaeontologically on th e basis of numerous findingsand dated by sufficient c a r b o n ~ 1 4 tests. On th e basis

ofunquestionable archaeological evidence, some North

American hunting cultures are certainly earlier than

that date an d an antiquity even greater is no t i m p r o ~ hable fo r some of the oldest known South American

hunters, whose traces have been found in recent years

in th e Argentinian grasslands.Furthermore, a few c a r b o n ~ 1 4 tests would make

th e minimal antiquity of man in this continent consi

derably older: possihly 37,000 years ago [91, p. 58]'fo r fires burnt in basin-shaped hearths near Lewisville,

Texas, with bones. of th e American camel and

horse, mammoth, an d bison of an extinct species,an d tools; a similar assemhlage of camp remains,

alheit with different artifacts, yielded an antiquity

'oIder than 23,800' for a site, Tule Springs, near

•• . 'natural resources' are in ¡act culturalappraisals. SAUER

Las Vegas, Nevada. Whilst there are good reasons

to view such very old datings with caution until

corroborated hy additionaI evidence, a minimum date

of 25,000 years before current times for th e first entry

ofman to th e New World seems quite likely on various

considerations.

The presence of man in th e extreme southern part

of th e continent for at least 9,000 years is dated by

th e carbon-14 test for th e surfaee of th e layer contain .ing th e oIdest remains of occupation in the Palli

Aike cave, in th e region of the Strait of Magellan.

These remains, an d others found in th e same area,

reveal a culture of hunters of th e American horse,

ground sloth, an d guanaco. On th e hasis of typological

correlations an d geological dating estimates, th e

antiquity of th e earliest traces-lithic industries-of

ma n southward in Patagonia seems to be even greater.

There is no douht that th e first people to move into

th e New World through th e Bering gateway were in

th e predatory-foraging stage of economy-as were,by th e way, their followers oflater t imes-and we may

add, on th e hasis of what is known of th e prehistory

of north-eastern Asia, that they possessed th e know

ledge of generalized Old World Palaeolithic techno

logies fo r th e exploitation of land resources, rather

than specialized equipment [20] (hut see also Tolstoy

[79]). The diverse palaeo-Indian cultural traditions

whose profiles were hecoming quite distinct-eertainly

so in North America, an d probably so in South America

as well-even before 10,000 B.C., appear to represent

indigenous developments out of that ancestral generalized hackground.

In North America, an antiquity of weIl over

11,000 years (Iater in th e east) is indicated for th eorigins of the big-game hunting tradition, which

extended mainly east of th e Rocky Mountains, to th e

Atlantic seaboard an d froID Canada to central Mexico,

at least. Also, in th e south-west of th e present United

l. Th e figures in brllckcts refer to the bibliography at the end of the chapter.

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History 01 land use in arid regions

States and in the intermontane area, a few findings

seem to indicate that big-game hunting might have

heen important there before th e dcsiccation of th e

area. In th e plains an d th e south-west, prohoscidians,

camel, and horse, were at first normal prey; Iater, they

might havc beeome searee, for th e eeonomy of the

Folsom hunters (at about 8000 B.C.) seems to have

depended mostly on the pursuit of Bison antiquus.

In the Atlantie region, mammoth anq. the otherspeeies mcntioned were apparently rare, instead

elk, deer, an d hear were hunted. In central Mexico,

t1 e early hunters ehased Archidiskodon imperator,

roaming in Iarge numbers hy the shores of th e lakes

in about 9000 B.C. In th e rest of North America

the Columbian mammoth (Parelephas columbi) was

more common.A different tradition, which includes a large variety

of cultures, is noticeable before 8000 B.C. in th e

Plateau-Great Basin area, an d becomes more defined

from 6000 B.C. onward. It s distrihution reaches

from th e eastern foothills of the Rockies to the Pacific

coast an d from Oregon to Mexico. Th e common charac

terization of this pattern is very generalized, an d bestseen in contrast to the concentration on big-game

hunting formerly descrihed. This occidental tradition

was based on diversified food-gathering, adaptable

to the -maximal utilization of available resources,

plant as well as animal. Ecological adaptations to agreat diversity- of environments produced a variety

of economies, including adjustments to arid country,l

and to riverine, lacustrine, and littoral habitats.

Th e oriental Archaic tradition, similar in its

approach to the natural resources, tending to broad

diversification dependent upon local eonditions, was

also developing east of th e plains, towards thc Atlantic

shores, during the 8000-6000 B.C. period, succeedingthere th e early h1:lnting pattern.

During the period of Altithermal climate, the

Great Plains became a zone of extreme aridity,

indicatedhy th e formation ofloess deposits in Nebraska

hetween 5500 and 2000 B.C. Much of th e area nrighthave been deserted and other parts very sparsely

populated, for archaeological evidence of occupation

however, must be considerahly older. In fact, at that

comparatively late date indireet evidence-that

will he rcviewed in the next section-suggests that

experiments in eultivation and the production of

cultigens had already hegun in highland Mexico and

Guatemala. I f so, the Chalco culture economy must

have combined incipient farming an d food-gathering.

In South America, th e paralleI cultural developments

of early post-Pleistocene times are still littIe known.Nevertheless, a mixed hunting-food-gathering pattern

seems to he represented by the Ayampitín culture.

Its vestiges were first found in the sierras of Córdoha

and San Luis, in north central Argentina; lately, it

has been reported from th e north-west of that country

and around San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile.

A putative date around 6000 B.C. is currently attn

buted to that culture.

Man has ha d a long time to adapt bimself culturally

to varied and changing environments, and to modify

by bis actions the American landscapes. However,

although the activities oí pre-agricultural human

groups, living by hunting and food-gathering, may

affeet natural resources,2 the adaptation of primitivepopulations to lile on arid an d semi-arid lands, wbich

is our concern here, seems to be rather narrowly

ecologicaIly conditioned, specially in the case of

pre-Columbian America, where th e p-astoral wa y

of life never developed as sueh, fór th e distrihution

of tamed grazing anímals was limited to the Andean

arca an d was there subordinated to intensive agri

culture.

It was with th e growth of cultivation an d th e im"provementof agricultural techniques that th e American

Indians hecame capable of mastering many of th e

arid and semi-arid zones of the eontinent, an d in

two independent cases to huild, upon th e foundations

of intensive agriculture, civilizations comparable to

t10se of th e pre-Classic Old World : Mesopotamia,

Egypt, th e Indus, and north China.

DEVELOPMENT OF CULTIVATION

is lacking or rather obscure. With the subsequent 1 he appearance of cultivation an d particularly its

improvement of ecological conditions, when the logical, hut not immediate, consequence, th e achieve

modern type of climate hecame prevalent, camp ment of estahlished agriculture, signalled a profound

remains indicate a re-orientation of th e economy change in th e relationsbip of man to land. The convertowards greater exploitation of plant resources and

small game-reflecting, prohahly, a comparative

scarcity of hison-although hig-game hunting was

always an important part of the subsistence hasis,

and a dominant one in some localities or at someperiods [81, p. 85].

In - central -Mexico, th e food-gathering culture

upon wbich plant-domestication could have developed,

is helieved to he represented hy the still ill·definedChalco industry. A carbon-14 date places this complex

of lithic tools at ahout 4500 B.C.; it s heginnings,

256

1. Increasingly arid eonditions, rcsulting in tb e desiceation oflakes, aud eb:eaman d wind erosion, cte., bceame prevalent in tb e Great Basin, th e aouth-west,

and southern California about 5000 D.C. (Xerothermio or Altithermal phase,lasting in force to about 2000 D.C., when climate beeame somewhat cooler

and moister, comparablo to th e present time); hence th e generio name of'Desert Culture', which is nowadays p r e C e r r e ~ for th e tradition. However,since th e extension oí the pattcrn trespasses th e limits oC th e arid zonc,sorne less eommitting designlltion JD.ight be advisable. On th e definitionand extension oCtbe' Desert Culture' see [38, p. 69-72; 41, p. 276-280; 61].For the tatter-day survival DE the dcsert Cood-gathering economy oC th eGreat Basin, see Steward's [76] cIassic ecological study.

2. Namely, man's possihle contribution to th e extinction oí arge, roving, slowbrccding anllnals_ Also, 1 think oC tb e oCten debated question oíthe efi'eets oíme on the extension oC grass-lauds; ío r sorne tecent statements pro an d conand supporting bibliogrsphies on this subject, see [71, p. 12-18; 72, p . 54-56;77, pauim, specially p. 129; 82].

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sion oí man from a parasite on nature to an active

partner with it , as the late Gordon Childe so we11

expressed,1 affected a11 aspects oí human liíe; i t was

a cultural revolution by which mankind was able to

progress beyond th e ecological limitations se t by

nature to the foraging primitive man, establishing

th e foundations for the eventual development of

civilization. What is known at present on American

prehistory, an d th e fact that the basic food plants

of native agriculturé were, beyond reasonable doubt,

developed in this continent ou t of indigenous wild

plants, plus th e proven antiquity oí some oí them

(1 am thinking specifically of the most recent data

on th e origin of maize, see below), makes it highly

probable that the American Indian agricultural t r a d i ~ tion was th e result of an independent development,

analogous in it s basis, effects, and consequences,to the Neolithic rev.oIution of the OId World.

The question of the. origins of agriculture requires

a multiple attack : geographic, botanic, and a r c h a e o ~ logic. The ethnological approach must be taken into

consideration too, but it ha s pro ved repeatedly

misIeading and therefore should he used ouly with th egreatest caution.

On geographical and botanical bases, two main

zones of probable origin of the most significant New

World cultigens are generally recognized, th e MiddIeAmerican region (mainly M e x i c o ~ G u a t e m a l a ) to the

north, an d th e Andean to the south [71, chapters 111

and IV ; 25, p. 115]. The first is helieved to he the

foeus of th e seed culture, the second that of vegetative

culture. Only a few American cultigens seem to have

originated outside of these arcas.

Archaeological evidence on the heginnings of native

cultivation is stilI very seanty; th e interest of th e

archaeologists on this subject has heen aroused only

reeentIy. Difficulties for such studies are many, variablechances of preservation of plant remains an d th e

hazards of localization of incipient farmers' dweIling

places complicate th e problem. However, it is to th e

credit of a few of my coIleagues that notwithstanding

these difficulties sorne significant, although as ye t

very fragmentary, data have been obtained through

painstaking spade work. . ....

Several campaigns condueted by MaeNeish in the

State of Tamaulipas, n o r t h ~ e a s t e r n Mexico, since

1945 have resulted in the discovery of a long sequence

ofhuman occupation in that region. The oldest vestigesfound eorrespond to the stage of early American

hunters of Late Pleistocene times; the earliest tool

assemblage uncovered to date is still i l l ~ d e f i n e d , but the youngest one is well characterized an d asso·

ciated with i n d i c a t ~ o n s of a climatic phase very we t

an d perhaps cooler than at present, correlated with

th e final phases-Valders advance an d Cochrane

of the Iast North American gIaciation [52, p. 152],an d (lated, by á single c a r b o n ~ 1 4 test, in the eighth

millennium B.C. (M-499 : 9270 ± 500 B.P.) [24,

Land use in p r e ~ C o l u m b i a n America

p. 1103] which agrees with the geoIogica! and fauna!evidence.

From the trash (including human coprolites, the

detailed examination of which is still yielding r e m a r k ~ able information) found in many once inhabited

caves explored by MacNeish an d bis associates in

south central an d s o u t h ~ w e s t e r n Tamaulipas, vegetal

remains (both wild and cultivated pIants) were r e c o v e r ~ ed that throw revealing sidelights on th e questions

of origins of agriculture in the Western ,Hemisphere

-especially as that region is generally accep1;ed by

th e botanists as marginal with respect .to the reputed

centres of origin of the main American cultigensó

The earliest evidence of cultivated plants was

found in the 1954-1955 fieId season at the Infiernillo

Canyon, in the rugged country of th e abutments of the

Eastern Sierra Madre, in the s o u t h ~ w e s t e r n section

of the state. The oldest known occupants of that

tract (' Infiernillo Phase ) were nomadic f o o d ~ g a t h e r e r s who depended also for their food on hunting; in

addition, cultivated Lagenaria, Cucurbita pepo, peppers

an d some sort of runner hean, perhaps, wild, were

found in the lowest strata of refuse. Two c a r b o n ~ 1 4 dates place these remains in th e seventh millennium

(M-49B an d M-500, [24]).

In th e following Ocampo Phase th e importance of

hunting as a supplement to vegetal food diminished.

The diet depended mostly on wild pIants, hut to the

cultivated species listed aboye common heans were

added. Direct carhon·14 dates for Ocampo matt{rialrange from 3700. to 2600 n.c., an d c r o s s ~ d a t i n g with

th e Sierra de Tamaulipas sequenee o.f artüacts (see

heIow) support the pIacing of this phase in th e third

and fourth millennia.

Panicum, Amaranthus, an d a primitive type of

maize related to that ofBat Cave (see helow) increased

th e numher of cultivated plants before 2000 B.C.(Flaceo Phase, one carhon-14 date 3947 ± 334 B.P.),but these people were still primarily gatherers of

wild plants, with very little hunting an d snaring as

supplementary economic activities. However, during

the succeeding Guerra Phase2 cotton and perhaps

C. moschata were introduced,3 and very soon, at

about th e middIe of the second millennium, a g r i ~ culture with a numher of varieties of maize, teocentli

(= teosinte, Euchlaena mexicana, prohahly as aweed, cf. DressIer [25, p. 150]), common, lima an d

runner heans, C. pepo an d C. moschata, gourds, an d

cotton, hecame established as th e hasis of th e local

economy with th e ensuing Mesa del Guaje Phase,

at th e same time that pottery appears for th e firsttime in that archaeoIogical sequence.

1. In hill clanio Whaf Happ6ned in Hútory (cbaptcr 11[: Neolithicbarbarism').2. Oddly dated by a single radiooarbon test over 2750 B.C., to be adjusted

perbaps to about 1900·1600 B.C. (cf. Crane and Griffin [24, p. 1104J dating oCsBmples M·504 witb M·567, and comments on M-50S; a1so MacNeish 152,p. 199].).

3. While, perhaplI signiñcantly, neitber Panieum nor Amaranlhu& are mentioncd in tbe published 8ummary [52, p. 168]; improved maize may havercplaced tbem [see 71, p. 72].

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History of land use in arid regions

In th e Sierra- de Tamaulipas, a detached monntainrange rising ahoye th e Gnlf oC Mexico coastal plainin th e -south central section oC the State, th e Nogales

culture, still based upon a Coraging economy, succeeded

-wi th an apparent time gap which would correspondto th e Infiernillo Canyon earliest phase-the Lermaprimarily hunting culture mentioned aboye; however,

i t

was wild plant life which constituted mostoC

theNogales people's food-supply, hunting heing only asupplementary economic activity. It seems that thereis no!)concrete" evidence Cor cultivation during thisphase, albeit-because oC the continuity oC culturaldevelopment with th e Collowing one and by parallelismwith early Ocampo-MacNeish thinks that cultivatedplants ma y have contrihuted a very small proportionoC the people's diet in the last part oC th e period.

The ensuing La "Perra Phase, seemingly cross-datingwith late Ocampo oC the Sierra Madre sequence,

certainIy represents a stage oC incipient Carming, withmaize an d C. pepo constituting maybe from 5 to 10pe r cent oC th e Cood consumption, th e remainderheing supplied hy wild plants (ahout 80 pe r cent) and

th e products of hunting and insect catching. Th e cornremains found belong to two now extinct varieties,classed by Dr. Mangelsdorf of the Botanical Museum oC

Harvard University as Primitive Nal-tel A and Btypes; these are pod-pop corn, with two-inch longeight-row cobs having each kernel of every row surrounded by pod-like leaves, and seem to be ancestralto lowland adapted Middle American maize of latertimes. A radiocarbon test dates La Perra Phase atahout 2500 B.C.

Th e Almagre late sub-division of the La PerraPhase, may have lasted well into th e second millen

nium. A blank follows in ou r knowledge of thissequence after which, the Laguna Phase, dated by

correlation with th e Huastec area to the south atahout the middle of the fust millennium B.C. [52,

p. 172 and p. 198], represents a tradition of fnllyestablished agriculture, evidently introduced to thisregion from th e south. Not only in the Sierra properbut also on the level land south and west of thesemountains, villages of 200-400 circular" huts and ~ t h ceremonial mounds arranged around plazas, revealthe new social pattern-which is known to he mucholder in central and southern Mexico an d in Guatemala.Three new races of maize, C. ficifolia, an d Manihotdulcis, appear for the first time in that area. Th eraces of maize are 'modern' types showing evidence ofEuchlaena introgression; they must have heen deve

loped outside th e area and introduced to the Sierrawith other innovations such as pottery.l M. dulcis,

a cultigen oC generally undoubted South Americanorigin, appears here for th e first recorded time reachingthe northern limit of it s pre-Columbian distrihution(cf. [70, p. 508; 71, p. 62]).

In spite of th e fact that there are still some blanks,uncertainties, an d incongruities to he smoothed out

258

in these sequences, together they constitute the mostdetailed case history to provide a firm foundationupon which to huild the study of th e origins of nativeAmerican agriculture. .

Evidence from caves in west central New Mexico

indícates that th e period from perhaps the Courthmillennium to a few centuries before th e heginning

of th e Christian era was one of slow shift from thefood-gathering economy of th e Cochise 'desert'culture to a sedentary way of life based on cultivation.Primitive maize an d C. pepo were added to th e subsistence hasis by at least 2000 B.C.,2 as an innovationderived seemingly from Mexico, and around 1000 B.C.

'modern' races oC maize-hybridized with Tripsacumor Euchlaena-and th e common hean appear. Established agriculture, however, díd not replace th eancient food-gathering pattern until about 300 B.C.,

coinciding with th e appearance of pottery [38,p.74-78].

It is generally accepted that th e introduction ofcultivation in Tamaulipas an d New Mexico indicatesan even greater antiquity of it s practice in th e high

lands of central and southern Mexico an d Guatemala.Th e hotanists agree that the last mentioned regions

are th e hearth where ~ a n y of the most importantAmerican cultigens were developed. Of th e plantsmentioned in the previous paragraphs, th e origins

of Phaseolus vulgaris, P. lunatus, an d P. coccineus

(or multiflorus), an d C. moschata, seem to he certainIytraced to that area. Two species oC Amaranthus,

A. leucocarpus an d A. cruentus, are tentativelyassigned to central Mexico and th e Guatemalanhighlands respectively [25, p. 153]. Th e case forC. pepo is dubious; it is domÍnant in the cool highlandsof Mexico, where it is a staple Cood, hut it is morediversified in the eastern United States [71, p. 67].

Considering its very early occurrence in Tamaulipas,i t seems that the possihility oí an origin to th e north hasto be discarded, since, on the basis of our presentknowledge, cultivation hegan much later there; thearchaeological" evidence, then, adds weight to Dressler'sstatement [25, p. 131] that th e endemic forms found inMexico anel Central America should he consideredwith regard to the origin of this cultigen.

The case for Zea mays is no w seen in a new light.Th e discovery oí polI en, apparently oC maize, at greatdepths in the subsoil oí Mexico City, would indicatethat a wild ancestor of the cultivated species grewin the highlands of Mexico (and prohahly Guatemala

l. Th e preceding summary is based on MacNeieh [49, 50, 51, 52].

2. Incipient cultivation of these plants is represented by remains found at th eBa t au d Tularosa caves.

At Ba t Cave, th e aucce6sion of corn aamptes staita with tho tiny ORre oí avery primitivo pod-pop type oímaize. M a . a g o l ~ d o r f [ S 3 , p. 409] says' althoughthis ellrliostBatCave m me may have been cultivated, t was oo t ía r removediu ita botanical characteristics írom wild maizo'. The hyhrid coro mentiouediu the text appeared in upper levela of tbe excavation: Tbere is a series ofcarboo-14 date. 'presumllbly conelatod witb tb e dovelcpment oí mllizeculture' [47. p. l11J. beginning c.4000 D.C. However, tho validity oí theoldest dates is not yet generally acceptod. Tb o specialists in tb e area dooo t commit tbomselve!l more tban to montion tb e minimum ago of 2000 n.c.,or ¡eave it vaguely botween 4000 sn d 2000 D.C.

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too) at th e time when man might have begun experiments in cultivation [25, p. 150-152; 4]. This, andthe late advent ,?f th e cultigen to the Peruvian coast(see heIow), which leads us to discard th e hypothesisof a South American origin, make highly probableit s domestication within the Middle American nucleus.

The mixed food-gatheringjincipient-farming eco

nomies have not yet heen identificd with certaintyin the hearth oí secd culture (but see my remark aboye,on the Chalco food-gathering pattern). Dated remainsfroID central Mexico to Guatemala indicate a minimumantiquity for sedentary farming communities between1500 and 2000 B.C.; circumstantial evidence points toth e third millennium for the heginnings of estahlishedagrlculture, as distinct froID incipient cultivation.

Along th e arid Peruvian coast a good number ofmiddens, sorne oí them attesting hy the accumulationof refuse to a prolonged penod of abode, reveal anoccupation by a people with a mixed economy basedon fishing, gathering (shell-fish an d wild plants)an d an incipient cultivation (probably in m'oist areasat the valley mouths, [see 22, p. 19]; manne mammals

formed an ':lppreciable complement of th e subsistencebasis, but there is no evidence of hunting land animalsin th e northern sites [11, p. 24; 78, p. 41] and ouly alittle elsewhere [26, p. 134]. In area, their presentlyknown range extends from th e neighhourhood ofPacasmayo (Iatitude S. 7°20') to past th e OcoñaRiver (Iatitude S. 16°30') [8, p. 118; 26, p. 73-85];in time, from about 2500 B.C. (based on c a r b o n ~ 1 4 dating) to the latter centunes of th e second milIenniumwhen, after th e introduction of maize,l archaeologicalevidence from th e only w e l l ~ s t u d i e d oasis, th e VirúValley, indicates a revolutionary change in foodproduction, a shift of population away from th e oldfishing stations into sections of th e lower valley

more favourable for estahlished agriculture (probablybased on river Hoodplain farming) an d an increasein nurnhers-a trend gaining momentum in the earlycenturiea of th e first milIennium B.C. [86, passim,especially p. 390].

The record of cultivated an d possihly cultivatedor semi-cultivated planta during this period at Huaca.Prieta, on th e Chicama Valley shore line, includes :

cotton, gourd, squash,3 chile pepper, jackbean (Canavalia ensifoTmis) , tw o varieties of pacae or guaba(rnga sp.), achira (Canna edulis). Truly wild eatentubers, roots, an d fruits were : 'papas de junco'(Scirpus ripanus or americanus) c a t ~ t a i l , a sedge(Cyperus sp.), lúcuma (Lucuma obovata), 'ciruela

de fraile' (Bunchosia sp.), and guayaha (Psidiumguajaba). A few of the plants found are no t identifiedfo r certain but maize remains were conspicuouslyahsent from this assemhlage [11, p. 24].

While th e techniques of cultivation-that aIlowed

th e pre-ceramic pattern of mixed subsistence economyto develop-must have come from the north [cf. 71,

p. 44], from north-western South America an d

Land use in pre-Columbian America

beyond, Engel makes an interesting suggestion toplace th e ancestral horne of these coastal people onth e ' lomas' ecological zone, between Chala an d Arica[26, p. 142].

A striking conclusion stands ou t of th e availablefactual information on th e remote prehistory ofnative American agriculture, that th e penod of

experimentation might have been a long one, withmixed food-gathering/incipient-farming subsistenceeconomies persisting long after plant domesticationbegan. A truly sedentary way of life based on farming,was only achieved when th e development an d diffusion

of high:-yield varieties of maize induced ma n to devotehimseIf f u l l ~ t i m e to th e pursuit of cultivation [12,

p.21].

THE GREAT PLAINS

In th e n o r t h ~ w e s t e r n Great Plains of North America,th e hunting-gathering pattern mentioned in the introduction persisted, without important modifications

of th e ecological balance, until it was altered by th eintroduction of th e Old World horse an d th e development of th e highly mobile methods for equestrianhunting and warring (eighteenth century).

In th e central plains and on th e middle Miasouri

River basin, horticulture (the maize-beans-squashcomplex) was added to th e h u n t i n g ~ g a t h e r i n g basissince about A.D. 500, as an intromission of th e eastern'woodland' agricultural pattern into th e westernfringes of th e prairie zone. A shift of th e agriculturalfrontier eastwards to th e ninety-ninth meridian,evidenced by archaeology for late prehiatoric times,might as well be due to climatic Huctuations as to otherundetermined factors [81, p. 89] (see also [80])

However,i t

wa s th e spreading of th e mounted nomadilison-hunting pattern, militarily onented, that mostprofoundly affected land use in this region. Th e hortic u l t u r ~ village communities dwindled in nurnher,

l. Tb e bcginnings of maize cultivntion on the north const dnte Íl:ODl no Interthnn 1200 D.C., on th e bnsis oí ita nllBoclntion with Chnvin horizon styIecernmica [87, p. 355]; plnin potter¡ appears first in th e axchaeologicnlsequence in the for:mer half oí th e second millennium, bu t coro ia a1ll0 to heíound in deposita oí this age. On th e central coast mnize might slightlyantecede th e appearancc oí cernmics (n t Aspero, near Supe ¡see 88, p. 151;26, p. 78]) 01' nppear together with undecornted pottery at Chirn·Villa,near Lima [see 26, p. 80]); although neither its inception no r that oí pluinearthenware hnve heen precisely dnted there, sequential evidence makesth e earliest maize anterior to the spread oí th e ChaVÍD ¡¡tyIe. What is sign{_ñeant, however, is not just the introduction oí the new plant bu t tb e eonver·sion oí the economy to established agriculture, allowed by ita hlgh yield;this momentous change definitely corresponds with th e horillon oí th eChavin ceramies (1200 to 700 B.C. nccording to carbon·I4 dates).

To judge from Engel's list oí eultivated planta in ·prc.eCl'nmie· times[26, p. 145J it seems that th e common hean (Phanolu$ vulgarb) ma y hnveheen introduced at th e same time as muize, aIthough Collier [22, p. 23]places it Jater in th e sequenee.

2. Although ou r present knowledge is Vf:r:y sketchy, lo r wnnt ol exhnustivemethodieal studies sueh as those made in Viró Valley, it is m a n i f e ~ t that~ i m i l a r changes took place at th e ¡¡ame time elsewhere along th e Peruvianconsto

3. For the pre.cera.mic period Engel [26, p. 145J liste: Cucurbila jirifo/ ia andC. moschala; C. maxima appearitlg with th e oIdest pottery nnd mme,C. pepo tnrdily (see also Snuer [70, p. 504]; Dressler [25, p. 130]).

Remnins oí C. jicifolia have been uncovered in ~ o o d qunntity at HuncaPrieta, to judge from a remark by Sauer [71, p. 66j, quotiog Whltaker andBird io Amer. Muuum Nod'ales, No. 1426, a paper no t avnilable to meat th e time oí writing.

259

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History olland -use in arid regions

(

an d th e settIements were fortified. In the late

eighteenth century, trihe after tribe' were joining

in the' mounted carrousel.

Mter th e horse, firearms (and indiscriminate

huffalo hunting, ending with th e almost complete

extinction of t1 e species), open range cattle-raising,

barbed wire and th e plough, th e prairie schooner and

th e iron horse-with th e white ma n hehind all t h a t -

in rapid succession changed th e face of this landscape

in th e course of the nineteenth century, as described

by Professor Logan in a later chapter.

THE COLORADO PLATEAD

area [15]. Whatever the causes may be, th e a b a n d o n ~ ment of th e hearth of t1 e Pueblo territory at the end of

th e thirteenth century is an archaeologically proven

fact. Henceforth, th e Pueblo Indians concentrated

south an d s o u t h ~ e a s t w a r d s , in zones where different

physiograpmc f e a t u r e ~ !llad.e the farmIand less destruc

tible by guIlying. Q:v'\ II}-'CJ..t;;I.

The erosio.ty hyPothesis has been contested by

O'Br an [60], who prefers to explain th e desertion of

th e San uan area as resulting from the harassment

exerted by marauding Athapaskan invaders; however,

there is littIe archaeological evidence of widespread

violence by nomadic bands against the sedentary

people.The eomponnded elfeet oí prolonged drought and

Th e Anasazi (Basketmakers and premstoric Pueblo) loss of farmland through erosion, as th e primary

Indians lived in the Colorado Plateau physiographic causes, raiding by the nomads (Ute or Navajo) on the

province, an d extended east into th e Rio Grande outlying settlements, pillaging of crops, an d so forth,

VaIley, as their- contemporary descendants (the 'lbs a force contrihuting to aggravate the unrest, and

Hopi, Zuñi, and Rio Grande Indians) still do. t'intervillage rivalry, intravillage feuding; an d perhaps

The climate of that area ranges from arid (with malnutrition and disease, as secondary or derivative

less than 250 mm. of mean annual precipitatioIi an d factors, is the explanation favoured bxBrew [13, p. 298]

mean annual temperatures above 11° C.) below'> and KeIley [39, p. 384], and th e o n e ~ e present1,800 m., to semi-arid between 1,800 m. and 2,200 m. wri te0eing an outsider, finds intellectually more

(precipitation between 250 mm. and 450 mm., tempe- satisfactory.

ratures averaging hetween 110 C. and 70 C), an d The hearth of the Anasazi tradition líes in the San

humid and cool at higher elevations. The vcgetation Jlian River drainage, in north-eastern Arizona, south

changes with tlie altitude, from desert scrub in th e eastern Utah, south-western Colorado, and north

lower climatic zone, to sage-brush, grass, and juniper western New Mexico. There is no evidence of agricul

an d pinyon trees in th e intermediate elevations, ture in that area until th e beginnings oí th e Christian

an d to pine and Douglas fu, or spruce in th e highest era (Basketmaker 11 phase), at first with maize and

mountains. Cucurbita moschata, to which Phaseolus vulgaris

Below about 2,100 m. rainfa ll is generally too seanty were added in Basketmaker nI imes (c. A.D. 400·700),to mature crops, and in the moist zone at high altitudes while P. lunatus and P. acutifolius varo latifolius

th e growing 5ea50n is too short;l crops are grown seem to have entered stilllater [16, p. 66 and p. 72];

most successfully in climates between th e extremes on archaeological evidence for beans in some sites

[14, p. 445; 31, p.8]. oí the San Juan area see Appendix C, by VoloeyThe climate doea net seem to have changed mate· H. Jones, in [13]. Although cotton was traded

rially during th e period which concerns us here (see into th e Anasazi countxy already in Pueblo 1 times

Brew [13, p. 5], for arehaeologieal evidenee), although (700-900), eotton growing seems to have begun in th e

occasional spells of prolonged drought, recorded north central Arizona section of t1 e territory by about

by the tree-rings, have worsened temporarily th e 1000, and spread from there to other parts in late

normally preearious situation throughout th e semi·arid Pueblo n and In phases [16, p. 80; 38, p. 76].country. Cucurbita pepo was introduced to that area at about

r- In one period however the devastating effects of the same date, and also spread from there over th e

;'recurrent droughts seem to have produced lasting Pueblo country [16, p. 20].'results. The succession of consecutive dr y years With regard to farming systems, we shall turn

which occuned over the plateau area from A.D. 1276 to ethnographical information suppleménted, when

to 1299-and ha s been recorded, too, in th e Rio possible, by archaeological evidence, to see them in

Grande Valley, with dates 1269-1296-appears to have bistorieal perspective.been merely t1 e climax of a long period of defective In th e zones of higher rainfall ordinary rain farming

precipitation. This ahnormally prolonged dr y period is practised, although contingent to t1e killing frosts,has heen correlated with an epicycle of erosion, attested owing to t1 e ahort growing season. Hack [31, p. 34]

in diverse localities within the Anasazi country. mentions dr y farms in the zone of yellow-pine of

Stream cutting would have been particularly destruc- !he Defiance Plateau of north-eastern Arizona,

tiveto the narrow flood plains ofthe San Juan drainage,

thus destroying the ground basis oí Anasazi agriculture

an d forcing th e desertion of the settlements in that

260

l. ID present da y Hopi country. th e average leDgth oí the growwg scaSOD isabout 130 days. the bulk oíthe Hopi crops need over 120 daya ío r maturatiOD{31. p. 20 ; 16. p. 101].

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w here th e mean annual precipitation is over 420 mm..

On th e meSa tops north of the San Juan River, in

south-eastern Utah an d south-western Colorado,

planting depends mostly on th e residual moísture

left in th e gronnd froro th e faTI raíns an d th e winter

snows, sinec th e spring rains are very slight an d Juneis th e dryest month of the year; the crops are brought

to maturity hy the JuIy and August thundershowers

[13, p. 11]. Brew considers probable that cultivatíon

on th e mesas might have heen in the past dry farming,

as it is today (but see Logan, page 277).A remarkably specialized forro of rain farming,

taking advantage of local conditions prevalent in th e

Hopi country, is planting in sand dunes [36,. p. 434;

23, p. 588; 31, p. 32]. This method utilizes the moisture

stored in th e dunes; th e superficial sand acts as a

dry mulch which facilitates th e absorption oí rain

water an d prcvents its evaporation. A shallow cover

oí sand (15-16 cm. deep) resting upon less pervious

suhsoil seel11:s preferred for' dune fields; however,

planting in thick dunes-perhaps more than 3 m.- i s

also practised, th e growth of th e young plants during

th e dry spring probably depending on a sub-super

ficial moisture horizon. Maize and heans are grownin these :lields, th e latter heing the most impOl'tant

as a sandwdune crop; an adapted variety of drought

resistant maize is plantcd widely spaced (ahout

1.80 m. apart) at a depth of 15-45 cm., allowing th e

seed' to germinate in moist soil during the dry spring,

proteeted from th e late frosts [36, p. 437; 23, p. 588;31, p. 19].

In some placcs seepage contrihutes to supply

moisture. Sand-dune :lields situated against th e

escarpments of th e mesas utilize th e water seeping

from th e porous sandstone cap rocks [31, p. 34 ;

p. 32, fields watered by underground seepage].

Seeps in dune hollows are also utilized to farm on

asmall scale.

In order to protect th e young plants from heing

damaged by blowing sand or swept away by the

violent winds, large s tones-or tin cans, nowadays

are placed close to each one oí them, this heing done

in th e less exposed fields. In places open to th e prevail

in g winds, hush windbreaks, placed in parallel lines

an d held by rows oí heavy stones, are bullt at 2-5 ni .

intervals. However, this protection fo r th e plants

does no t suffice to anchor th e dunes, an d t le fields

have to move with th e shifting sands. Th e moving

field caused th e failure oí attempts to assign allotments

of land individually to the Indians, th e native land

division being by clans.

Ancient sand dune fields are identified by th e stone

Iines left after th e windhreaks are gone. One of them,

in th e Jeddito Valley, seems to date from th e thirteenth

eentury (Pueblo ]II phase) [31, p. xx and p. 70].

Archaeological evidence fo r still greater antiquity

of the practice derives from th e eruption of Sunset

Crater, on th e eastern slopes oí th e San Francisco

Land' use in pre-Columbian America

Peaks, in north central Arizona. The eruption oí tm s

volcano is certainly earlier, but not much older,

than A.D. 875 [23, p. 584]; it eovered a large arca

between th e peaks and the small Colorado River with

a mantle of hasaltic cinder. The black ashes overlay

Basketmaker n I an d Pueblo I sites, or very early

Pueblo n . Colton plausibly relates to the practice

of sandwdune agriculture the attested great increase

oí settlements in Pueblo 11 an d Pueblo n I times.

Towards th e year 1000, population seems to have

been flowing into th e area oí th e black dunes, by

1200 most of th e people ha d departed, and after 1300th e country was deserted. Th e cinder blank.et covering

th e region would, at first, have made an ideal place

fo r th e pursuit of sandwdune agriculture, hut gradually

th e prevailing westerly winds may have removed

th e fine sand cover, piling it into dunes to o deep ío r

successful planting, an d drifting sand into canyons

where much oí it was washed away; thus, in th e

short term oí tw o or three centunes th e country

may have lost its attraction for sand-dune farmers.

There too, lines oí stones indicate th e practice oí

setting up windbreaks [23, p. 589], older, apparently,

that those of Jeddito Valley.The dominant type oí agriculture among th e present

day Hopi Indians is floodwater farming, an d i t is

probable tha1: it was th e same in the past ío r th e

whole of tite Anasazi country. The modern practice

has been deserihed by Gregory [30], Bryan [14, 15],Hoover [36] Forde [29], and Haek [31]. As 'defined

by Bryan [14, p. 444], th e term floodwater farming

applies to th e utilization of areas naturally flooded

by run-off derived from higher ground, without main

taining a regular system of diversion or conveyance

of waterAhus, th e moisture supplied hy th e strictly

local rainfall is reinforced by the overflow. Since th e

areas selected for planting are those likely to . be

flooded, special conditions are required. Thus, th ewashing out of th e crop hy the flooding water or a

heavy deposition oí silt that might bury th e plants

are to he avoided. The location of th e fields relative

to the physiographic features, which determine th e

characteristics oí the flooding, serve as ' a hasis fo r

th e classification oí th e different variants of this

system [31, p. 26].Th e preferred situation over th e Hopi country

. is at th e places where th e stream gradient flattens

at the foot of the slopes and th e run-off of th e high

ground gathered in torrents spreads a sheet oí water

over th e shallow fa n built hy the deposition of th e

load oí debris discharged through their channels.

Such localities have always been used fo r fields by

th e Zuñi Pueblo lndians [14, p. 449]. These plaeesare ealled ak-chin (arroyo mouth) by the Papago lndians

of southern Arizona, an d this descrlptive term ha s

heen used as a technical word since Bryan's days.

The distribution of th e water over th e field is partially

controlledby th e íarmer, by building earthen spreaders,

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l

History 01 land 'use in arid regions

hy digging furrows to areas that are in danger of

heing left dry or even by diverting w ater to individual

planta. In severa! instances, according to Rack;

th e ratio hetween th e areas of cultivated ak·chinfields an d th08e oC the arroyo watersheds which

supply them with water varied from 3 : 100 to 6 : 100;th e variation between these limita is explained by

th e differences in the amount oC run·off froro on e

drainage ba8m to another, depending on the nature

of th e ground [31, p. 31].The eJFeets ofthe late epieycle of erosion (sinee 1880)

have increased th e importance oC th e ak-chin fields,

hy reducing th e amount oC farmland availahle in th e

lIoodplains of large streams [31].A second class, with a few subdivisions, is that of

fields located on the Hoodplains oí th e main valleya,th e low Hood tenaces oC large arroyos, or in th e

dry heds of small intermittent streams, in places

where th e water will spread over a wide area during a

Hood and yet will not he destructive to the crop. This

practice is limited nowadays hy · th e deepening an d

widening of the stream channels in recent times.

An example of such valley-hottom fields cultivated by

th e Navajo-who, incldentally, learnt agriculturefrom th e Puehlo Indians-is given hy Bryan [14,p. 451]. The Hopi, and less frequently th e Navajo,

sometimes fuect th e Hoods by constructing temporary

earthen diversion dams, up to 30 cm. or more in

height [30, p. 104]; these are renewed every season.

A third class, fields watered by hillside wash, was

deserihed hy Bryan [14, p. 445] as praetised today

by th e Spanish-speaking inhabitants of small valleys

in th e Sandía Mountains of New Mexico. Since th e

settlement of that area dates only from 1815 and the

procedure has not been reported for the Indian country

[31, p. 30], is roight he colonial rather than ahoriginaI.

Anyway, th e distinction between these fields an d

those of th e second class does no t seem to be cIear

cut, to judge from Bryan's pictures.

- Still another technique-which involves works of a

more permanent nature-is th e building of check

dams in small wash hottoms to form terraces. Th e

dams are made of loosely píled stones an d brush,

an d serve to hold soíl an d moisture, by slowing th e

run-off, and to obstruct gully erosiono The crop planted

in those terraces is nearly always early corn, which

is associated with ceremonial celebration [31, p. 30].

Aeeording to Gregory [30, p. 104], remains of sueh

check dams on th e terraced Hoor of washes may be

seen near many of th e anclent ruins. In addition,

prehistoric check dams across th e run-off an d on

rock ledges are found at Mesa Verde (south-western

Colorado), an d it is likeIy that more would he foundifthe San Juan area were searched for them [13, p. 10].

Finally, canal irrigation was practised, at least in

the San Juan area, during Puehlo III times (lIOO·1300)as evidenced by th e ancient reservoirs an d ditches

found in the Mesa Verde region. The main ditch

262

on Mesa Verde is about 6 km . long, over 9 m. wide, [an d 28 cm. deep, an d falls more than 200 m. with a

very regular gradient [13, p. 10]. Modern Hopi gardens

irrigated hy diversion are deserihed hy Haek [31, p. 34],an d in the Navajo eountry hy Gregory [30, p. 105]However, th e amount oC land watered in this way 1Iis very small, an d it wa s apparently th e same in thCj(

past [13, p. lI].

IRRIGATION AGRICULTURE

OF THE MEXICAN BORDER

At th e close of th e seventeenth century, when th e

fust Christian missionaries entered th e section of

northernmost Sonora an d southern Axizona, later

known as th e Pimería Alta, th e agriculture of th e

Pima Indians depended upon canal irrigation [18, p. 4].

The climatic features of that area are a precipita

tion low in average an d extremely unreliable owing to

annual Huctuations, a very high rate of evaporation,

an d a long growing season. Of th e rivers which

supplied th e water for irrigation, th e Gíla and the

Santa Cruz ar e discontinuous streams, and the Sa nPedro How, although perennial, Huctuates greatly

[18 p. 13]. Piman settlements an d irrigation were

found along th e stretches of continuous flow. South

of th e present international boundary they lived

hy th e upper reaches of th e Sonora an d Sa n Miguel

rivers, an d down th e Sa n Ignacio an d Altar, where

rich irrigated land was found as fa r west as Caborca

[18, p. 5, quoting Mange's Luz de tierra incógnita, based

on his visit in 1694].As noted by eighteenth-and nineteenth-century

observers of th e Gila Pimas practice, temporary

diversion dams were bullt oC upright poles, driven

into th e river be d in zigzag lines, as a supporting

frame for a h a ~ r a g e of branches an d bundles of

bush; rocks and tree trunks were also used sometimes

to reinforce th e construction. These harrages rarely

stood longer than ayear , being washed away by

sudden floods. The networks of conveyance an d

distribution canals were very extensive; from th e

main canals many lateraIs branched out on both

sides of them. The main ditches were as much as 3 m.

deep at the intake an d generally 1.20-1.80 m. in

width. The irrigated fields were suhdivided hy earth

ridges into reetangles of ahout 70 m. hy 35 m. The

main canals were communally owned, and they

were deaned an d repaired every spring under th e

direction of elected officials, who also regulated th e

distrihution oC water. Often th e men of several

communities worked reciprocally for th e maintenanceof their irrigation systems [18, p. 156].

With regard to land ownership, elongated cobble

stones se t vertically in th e ground, suggestive of

houndary markers, have been found by modern

farmers; some clue on the nature of th e ancient

8/4/2019 Arm Ill as 1961


field system m:ight have been provided by the

study of their pattern of arrangement, hut i t wa s

ohliterated by recIamation works before it s signi

:ficance was appreciated hy archaeologists [35, p. 8].In addition to canal irrigation, sorne floodwater

farming wa s practised in a few favourable places.

Also, i t is noteworthy that food-gathering was an

important activity, intricately interwoven with gar

dening in Piman economy. Even in normal years th e

products of wild plants, mainly mesquite beans(Prosopis sp.) and cactus fruits an d seeds (Carnegieagigantea, LemairBocerBus thurberi, Opuntia fulgida,O. echinocarpa), constituted an important part of

th e dieto When crops were washed ou t hy overflows

or they falled for other reasons, the relative importance

of farming, food-gathering an d hunting as th e founda

tion of subsistence became reversed [18, p. 28 an d p. 63].I t must be noted, however, that increased reliance

on food-gathering an d hunting as important comple

m e n ~ s of th e suhsistence basis was possihly a reversion

which occurred at th e time when th e prehistoric

irrigation systems dwindled-in th e early fifteenth

century.l

The prehistoric sedentary culture of southernArizona is called Hohokam. Apparendy i t evolved

out of th e food-gathering Cochise Desert culture

with th e introduction of agriculture shordy before

th e heginning of the Christian era. Although there

is a dark period in th e development of this tradition,

from t1 e early fifteenth century to th e late seventeenth,

there is no reason to douht that th e Hohokam people

were th e ancestors of th e Upper Pima Indians of

later days.

Since no evidence of canal irrigation is yet known

for most of th e fust thousand years, sorne form of

Hoodwater farming is postulated for that periodo

River floodplain farming might have been feasible

in th e vicinity of th e archaeological site of Snaketown,

a setdement close to the Gila River whose origins are

much earlier than the attested antiquity (c. A.D. 800)of th e local canal system [33, p. 57]. Later, th e

development of th e canal networks permitted setde

ment away from th e rivers; an example of tbis was

th e town whose ruins are now called El Puehlo de los

Muertos, that flourished in th e fourteenth century

as th e centre of a large population cluster, 10 km .

south of th e Salt River [34, figures 1 and 24, an d

p. 14-43; 35, p. 9].Th e remains of prehistoric networks of irrigation

canals are very extensive in south central Arizona;

in th e Salt River valley th e aggregate lengtb of

conveyance ditches has been calculated to he more

than 300 km., of .which 120 km. correspond to th eLos Muertos system alone [35, p. 8; and 34, p. 41,quoting Turney'5 PrehistoTie ITTigation in ATizona].

Some of th e ridged depressions revealing th e course

of an aneient canal can he traccd for more than

30 km .

Land use in PTe-Columbian America

An excavated section oí one oí th e Los Muertos

ditches, 10 km. !roro th e intake, was found to he 9 m.

in width at th e top and over 2 m. in depth, with a large

groove at th e bottom, apparently deaigned to carry

th e small flow of water during perioda of scarcity,

a feature also found in other broad channels. In a

section of th e Snaketown canal, th e actual water con .

duit is abont 2 m. in width and 1 m. in depth, although

from crest to crest of th e side ridges i t is abont 10 m.

in average. Haury [33, p. 56] pointedly notes that th ewidths given for th e Hohokam canals on th e basis

oí surface indications do not necessarily correspond

to the actual size of th e channels, which has to he

aseertained through excavation oí their cross-seetions.

Tbe study of th e Snaketown canal [32, 33] revealed

an interesting story oí deposition oí alkaline cmsts,

silting an d re-excavation of channels, eovering a

time span of at least 500 years, beginning at about

A.D. 800.The Hohokam canal systems reaohed their maxiroum

development from about 1200 to 1400 [32, p. 50].

Their planning, construction, and maintenance would

have required a considerable degree of community

control by a political organism; th e fact that in someinstanees several villages evidently drew water from

th e same canal, indieates co-operation an d co-ordina

tion at th e intervillage level [35, p. 8]. The layout of

settlements an d canals in th e Los Muertos area,

suggests some degree oí political centralization oí th e

kind that, in larger an d more compaet irrigation dis

tricts in other parts oí th e world, produced th e rise

of city-States. This phenomenon, in th e Hohokam

area, was apparently limited to a very incipient stage

hy the seattering of irrigable zones, at least under th e

resources-technology equation operative in th e

Hohokam culture.

THE SONORAN DESERT

Further south, along th e middle and upper Yaqui

River an d th e mid-course oí th e Sonora River (i n

th e zone oíBShw climate), th e agriculture ofthe Lower

Pimas (Nebome and Ures groups) depended on

well-developed canal irrigation, according to th e

reports of the early Spanish explorers.

Th e desert's Papago division of th e Pima people,

living in the very arid section west of th e Santa

Cruz River, forcibly depended more on gathering

of wild plants and/or hunting than on agriculture.

Th e average annual precipitation over that area

is less than 125 mm . Residence was seasona!, near

the scanty permanent water sources during th e

l. Th e causes of tbis are still undetermwed. In a personal communicatioDdated 8 April 1959, Dr. Haury writes that lowering Qf the main-streamc h a n l l e l ~ or alkalinization have beeo mentioned as possible explanations,bu t Done iB directly attested by archaeological evidcnce. Personally.

he Cavours ratber a break-dowD oC th e 80ciety_by efl'ect oC COrees no t ye tsurely recognized, which were operntive over a Inrge part oC th e NortbAmerican south_wcst_as tbe main caUlie of the cultural recession. '

263

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HislOry of land use in arid regions

willter months and in th e places favourable foragriculture after th e summer rains started. Cropswere raised mostly hy thunderstorm floodwaterf a r m i n g ~ A k ~ c h i n fields ar e reported hy the earliestchroniclers (end of !he seventeenth century); lowemhankments, hrush harriers, an d shallow ditcheswere used to capture and spread th e water. Also, ina few places they irrigated ,Yi!h water derived fromsprings or th e stretches of permanent How of the

Sonoita River [18, p. 40 and p. 168].The Yuman trihes of th e lower Colorado Rivervalley-in th e western section of the Sonoran Desertprovince-depended on natural1 river Hoodplain. farming, planting as soon as th e water receded in th eground moistened an d fertilized hy th e annual summeroverHow (see !h e thorough study hy Castetter an dBe n [19]). The erratic ways of th e river-variahilityan d even' failure of seasonal Hoods an d unseasonaldestructive ones-precluded the maintenance of permanent frelds [19, p. 38 and p. 69 et seq.] and made th eYuman economy unstahle. In spite of th e eventualpossihility of a hounteous harvest of cultivated crops(maize, tepary heans, an d pumpkins), suhsistencedepended to a large extent (50·70 pe r cent) uponthe products of wild plants-mainly Prosopis julijlora,P. odorata-and frshing [19, p. 66 et seq. and p. 238].

River Hoodplain farming, hased on natural inundation, was likewise th e source of suhsistence of th epre-Spanish nations of southern Sonora an d th eSinaloa coastal plain, in north-western Mexico.There, dependahle summer Hoods an d less so, hutstill ordinary, winter ones-which originated in th eupper drainage of th e rivers in th e high WesternSierra Madre-and th e all-year-round growing season(climate BWh'w in th e north, BSh'w in th e south)alIowed two an d even three crops ayea r on th econtinuously re-fertilized fields. I t is quite significantfrom !h e nspect of sociological theory !hat, although

i t sustained a dense an d prosperous population,tm s natural irrigation did no t produce an y appreciahledegree of urhanization no r a complex political structure.

MESO AME RICA

The term 'Mesoamerica' is used nowadays to referto th e culture-area comprising th e ancient 'Mexican'an d 'Mayan' civilizations (in their many varietiesas manifested in time and space), which in th e pasthave heen geI).erally considered as rather distinctdevelopments.2 It s fundamental unity is now heyond

question, an d th e differences in s o c i o ~ e c o n o m i c structures an d settlement pattern ca n well he explainedas ecological adaptations to contrasting environments.

The climate of the eastern lowlands, facing th eGulf of Mexico and the Carihhean Sea, where th eclassic Mayan and other cultures of related type

264

Hourished, is for th e most part of th e t r o p i c a l ~ r a i n forest (Kiippen's Af) and monsoon forest (Amw,Amw') types, th e main exception heing th e tropicalsavanna (Aw) area of the n o r t h ~ w e s t e r n part of thePeninsula of Yucatan-a limestone formation with nosurface running water an d where, noteworthily, adistinctive variety of Mayan culture existed sinceancÍent times.

On th e other hand, notwithstanding th e great

climatic contrasts effected hy th e relief, most of th ehighlands, th e interior valleys, an d the Pacific coastshare a common characteristic-well-marked periodsof seasona! drought lasting over half of th e year(generally, seven to eight months). Over most of th eplateau and range regions, aside from !h e high mountains, th e dominant climate is th e mesothermalsavanna (Cw) type, and in the interior depressionsan d along most of th e Pacific coast th e tropicalsavanna (Atv) type is found. The temperate forest(C!) only occurs in the mountains. In th e zone ofrain shadow west of th e Eastern Sierra Madre highpeaks, there ar e tracts of cold steppes (BSk), and inth e depths of th e inland valIeys tropical steppes(BSh) and even cactus desert (BWh).

In th e light of the extreme environmental diversitywitmn Mesoamerica an d what is known ahout th elevel of civilization attained hy it s people, i t is hardIysurprising that, contrary to an opinion widely an drather uncritically accepted until a few years ago,th e diversity of agricultural practiccs found in thatarea corresponds, as might he expected, to the v a r i a ~ hility of. climate, reHef, hydrography and soil.

We are concerned here only with those sections ofth e culture-area where unreliahility or extremeseasonal limitation of rains, an d excessive e v a p o ~ transpiration an d run-off losses,3 ca n he, an d were,advantageously compensated for hy means ofirrigationan d where land productivity was sustained hy th e

application of techniques for th e conservation ofsoil an d water resources, allowing intensive e x p l o i t a ~ tion. These regions correlate with th e Cw and Aw zones,which constitute th e greatest part of central, western,

l. Although Il mid-eighteenth eentury eye-witncss credits the Indiana withIl method to divcrt th e overflow, building diagonal dikes of 10gB Bupportedby poles driven iuto the river bed, ruad spreading th e water mt o swales bymeans of eartb dams disposed to form an incipient system of bw;in irrigationU9, p. 1331.

2. 'l'be nortbern froutier of lIIesoameriea can he defined in various ways, eitbcron Illl arcbaeological or ethnological hasÍB, hu t in any case it l1uctuatedtbrough time. Th e 220 paralIel eonstitutes a convenient geographiealrefcrencc, aItbough cultural influences can he traced tar north of that line,to tb e north-west Ilnd north-east, and the ltIesoamericau cultmal patterntrcspussed it at various pIaces an d periods; eonversely, tbe farming froutiersettlementshadretracted southwardsin tbe central seetion before th e alTivalof tb e Spaniards in the sixteenth century. Th e northena neighbours of tb csedentary Mesoamcriean people in the semi_nrid zone of north central

Hexico were tb e nomadic hnnting-gathering Chichimees. Th e southernlimit of Mesoamcriea does uo t coneern th e purposes of tbis papero3. Although I huye no t seen statistics on tbis sub¡'eet, anyhody familiar with

thcse regions knows tbat e v a p o _ t r a n ~ p i r a t i o n 085( '8 must he inordinlltelyhigh. owing to thc rate of insolation an d low reIativc humidity. Witb regardto run_off over tb e whole arca nnder consideration, excluding tb e negligihleCJzone of th c high mountains. rain almost always falls in torrentilll sbowers,thus tailing to soak sloping ground. Th s i8 oC speeial significance slnce,owing to tbe relative scarcity of l1at lands, much oC tb e cnltivlltion is doneon th e hiUsides al' rolliog gronnd.

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and south-western Mexieo, and th e BS and BW

elimatie enclaves. Only a few instanees of th e applica

tion of conservation measures are known from places

-outside th e limits outlined.

In almost an y place within that area-with th e

exception of th e few truly arid sections-rain farming

is possihle, although often aleatory an d undependable

(see, for example, Millon [57] on th e Valley of Teotihuacán), and there is no question hut that it was

generaIly practised. The native. method uses th e

slash-and-burn technique of clearing fields-wherever

th e vegetal cover makes it necessary-and alternate

periods of cultivation an d fallowing in short cycIe, th e

fallow intervals approximating the number of years

th e field can be maintained under repeated cultivation.

Th e long rest required for th e restoration of the plant

nutrients in most soils of the humid tropics, incIuding

th e tropical forest in Mesoamerica that allows for

jungle growth over a much longer period than that

required for cultivation, is not necessary in th e Jife

zones that concern us here.

However, th e productive capacity of rain farming

under th e climatic conditions prevalent in these

zones is contingent u pon th e duration of th e winter

dry season an d th e intensity, reliability, an d efficiency

of th e summer rains. The regularity in th e beginning

of th e rainy season (the coming of Quetzalcoatl, th e

green-feathered serpent god, in native myth), as a

determinant of th e planting days, is also an important

factor in th e central plateau (the upper Lerma River

valley, th e basin of Mexico, th e Tlaxcala an d Puebla

high plains, and the upper Moctezuma River drainage

in southern Hidalgo), where th e concentration of

population in pre-Columhian times was greatest,

for early frosts may injure th e unripe crops when

planted late.

In many places th e aIl-year-round growing season

permits, with irrigation, th e continuous cultivationof th e same plot and the harvesting of tw o annual

crops uninterruptedly; that i t was practised where

environmental conditions allowed is confirmed by

.historical evidence [see, for example, sixteenth

century quotations for th e Coatlalpan province in

2, page 98]. Furthermore, irrigation permitted th e

growing of crops with special moisture requirements,

such as cótton, and the cultivation of th e drought

sensitive cacao tree in the warm seasonally arid sec

tions of th e Paeifie versant [2, p. 86 and p. 111].Nevertheless, no t only commercial crops hut also

th e hasic subsisten.ce culture of maize and chile peppers

were given preference in irrigated fields.

I t is well known that even under climatic conditions

favourahle to rain farming, supplemental irrigation

increases yields per unit of cultivated land and im

proves th e efficacy offertility methods of conservation,

such as th e application of fertilizer. With regard to

incrcased yield, it is ' interesting to see Palerm's

[63, p. 30] comparison of productivity hetween the


specialized permanent moisture chinampa system of

the Vaney of Mexieo, the diteh irrigated fields at

Tecomatepec, th e fallowing supplemented hy house

gardens at Eloxochitlán, and th e tropical slash-and

hurn at Tajín. The comparative numbers indicating

the amount of cultivable land needed to support th e

same numbers of people, approximate th e series

1:2:12:24 respectively; reading i t in inverted order

we ge t an index to th e theoretical relative density

of population allowed hy these farming systems.!

Taking into consideration increased yield, continuity

of land use, an d possibilities of double cropping,

th e compounded effects of irrigation on food supply,

an d hence on density of population, must have heen

quite significant; availahle evidence confirms tbis

assumption.

The subsistence hasis of civilization in these regions,

although resting to a large extent on th e rain-farming

fallowing system2 cannot he properIy understood i f -as

has heen done to o often-the importance attained

there in pre-Columhian times hy improvement an d

conservation methods, an d consequent influence

on population density an d clustering, settlement

patterns, an d some fundamental aspects of th e socialand political sutructures, is minimized or ignored.

There has heen an awakened interest in th e distri

hution of native irrigation agriculture by means. of

canals an d ditches at th e time of th e Spanish conquest

or shortly thereafter and, in a few concrete cases,

in th e historical information referring to late pre

Columbian times. A few results have heen published

since the late forties, covering th e area north of t1 e

Isthmus of Tehuantepec : Sauer's investigations

on th e role of irrigation in the preconquest economy

of the' zone of Colima an d neighhouring sections of

Jalisco and Michoacan, in western Mexico [69];

my own research fo r most of the area that has heen

pnhlished in detail only for the part referring to th eBalsas River drainage, which eomprises, however,

a large part of southern central Mexico an d incIuded

th e prized irrigation district of southern Puehla an d

eastern Morelos [2]; an d Palerm's comprehensive

paper for th e whole area under consideration [62].

No similar studies have heen made for some sections

of Mesoamerica southward from the Isthmus of

Tehuantepec where enviromental conditions might

have encouraged analogous practices. However, a

late sixteenth-century reference indicates irrigatíon

for cacao-tree plantations at Santa An a (western El

Salvador), and it is implied for places in Xoconochco

(the coast of Chiapas, Mexico), and farther south

in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (to th e península of

Nicoya), where native cacao culture is recorded and

th e long dry season would have made watering of

l. See also Snnders [67, p. 74; 68, p. 116J.2. With reference to its effects on the type of civilization,th e uplnnds Cnllowing

system is, anywny, twice as productive in proportion to th e amount ofcultivable land as the shifting-fieldsprocedure typical oC tIJe humid lowlnnds[67,63].

265

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History Qf land use in arid regions

th e orchards a necessity, despite the amount of

annual rainfall [58, p. 66, p. 73, p. 76 and p. lU].

Th e studies mentioned in th e preceding paragraph

are based on sixteenth century historical or adminis

trative documents, some of which are transcriptions

of pre-Spanish traditional history, or pleas for confu .

mation of water rights by colonial authorities. Unfor

tunately, very little archaeological research has been

done to date to suhstantiate th e documentary evi

dence an d to investigate th e prehistory of irrigation

works. A noteworthy exception is Wolf aq.d Palerm's

field survey of the extensive remains of aqueducts

and canals in th e piedmont of the Sierra east of the

former Acolhua capital, Tetzcoco [90]. Th e longest

aqueduct found is carned over an emhankment

1,000 m. long and 12 m. high at the highest point,

another although shorter (ahout 300 m.) reaches 20 m.of maximum height over th e saddle of th e ground

[90, p. 269 and p. 272]. In those 1 have seen the

channel is stone bullt, revetted with lime plaster

and, in a shon stretch over th e hill at th e entrance of

th e emhankment leading to the royal gardens, th e

water conduit is cu t into solid rock.

These authors did a splendid job of relating theanclent vestiges to sixteenth centm'y documentary

sources, and to present-day native irrigation in th e

area. Being familiar with these places, l fully agree

with their conclusions that available evidence suggests

a mid-fifteenth-century reclamation project, under

taken in Nezahualcoyotl's reign. Although hitherto

usually referred to as th e royal gardens of that king,

it is clear in th e field and supported by documentary

evidence, that th e regal domaine was only a part

of a more extensive endeavour designed to benefit

many communities. Mid-fifteenth century was a

period of Acolhua preponderance in central Mexico,

with King Nezahualcoyotl at the summit of power

as political and mili.tary leader of th e Triple Alliance,

just before it s decline and th e accession of the kings

of Tenochtitlan to pre-eminence within th e frame

work of th e expanding Aztec empire. However,

l believe that extensive use of aerial photography an d

spade work, that has no t been done, would not fail

to reveal considerahly older hydraulic works in that

general section of th e Valley of Mexico,l

The only excavations made in Mesoamerica to

uncover and date vestiges of a prehistoric irrigation

system are those of th e dams and canal in a small

valIey between th e Maravilla and Altatongo hilIs,

in th e neighbourhood of the ancient metropolis of

Teotihuacan. The indications leading to the discovery

were found by examination of aerial photographs,

and the preliminary survey on th e ground reported

by Armillas, Palerm, and Wolf [3]. The subsequent

excavations have been very ahly conducted by MilIon.

His conclusions [59] are that this system may have

originated in the ToItec period (e. A.D. 800-1200)

or perhaps in' older Teotihuacan times.2 Millon has

266

also made considerable research, most of which is

still unpublished, to relate prehistoric, colonial, an d

modern practice of irrigation in th e valley of Teoti

huacan. Th e major canals which ru n through th e

valley today existed in 1580, an d an abandoned canal

has been discovered in th e Hat lands of it s central

section that looks a promising site for an investigation

of the very origins of irrigation in th e district of

Teotihuacan.

In th e Basin of Mexico, th e shallow fresh water

lakes oí Zumpango, Xaltocan, Xochimilco, Chalco

and parts of Lake Tetzcoco,3 were conquered for

chinampa agriculture, th e so-called 'floating' gardens

[74,84]. Th e chinampas are, and were, artificial islands

bullt in shallow waters by piling up layers oí aquatic

plants and silt from the hottom oí th e lakes.4 In order

to keep th e porous soil of the chinampa perpetually

moist, by infiltration from th e surrounding waters,

an d to íacilitate supplementary manual irrigation,

th e islands· are built in comparatively narrow, e l o n ~ gated strips. Also, th e to p plane is regulated-by

adding or scraping to p soíl as required-in relation

to the water level, so that moisture might reach th e

root-leveI. Additional moisture is supplied directlyto the individual plants by lifting water from th e

surrounding canals hy means of simple hand tools,

such as cloth huckets mounted in a twig ring with

a long handle or by wooden scoops. As the water is

muddy and rich in organic nutrients, this amounts

to th e addition of new soil.

Besides th e building of th e land, infiltration of

moisture, and manual irrigation, th e chinampa far

ming system includes today, an d seems to have

included in the past, techniques such as th e use of

hotbeds-and consequently transplanting-and ferti

lizer. lndian seedheds are depicted in Fray Bernardino

de Sahagún's Florentine Codex (third quartel' oí th e

sixteenth century). FrayAlonso

de Molina'sVocabu-lario en lengua castellana y mexicana (printed in

Mexico City in 1571) provides some linguistic evidence

ahout th e fertilizers used-at least for th e central

Mexican area of Nahuatl speech, which includes th e

chinampas region. According to Molina, th e verb

coquipachoa nitla, is translated ' to dung the soíl in

some way', coquiatl is mud, bog, hence th e verb

means ' to muck', which describes welI th e practice

1, Perhaps related, an d 1 mention it just as a possibility to be investigated,

to th e ruills oC Cerro Portezuelo, an important settlement íartber south in th esame piedmont area.

2. In my opinion, the possibility oí the system originating in the Teotihuacanperiod seems rnther Iikely, although admittedly based on the íaint evidenceoí th e diversion oC th e stream írom ¡t s natural watercourse rS9, p. 164].

3, High salinity was apparently eonfincd to th e ellatern parta oí Lnke Tetzcoco,bu t the fiow and re60w oC braekish water, depending on th e í1uctuatioos in

water level withln the intercommurucated system oí lakes, afFected itawestern section, around th e island where th e twin dties Tenochtitlan andTlatelolco rose. Tb e construction oC the 'albarrndón de Nezahualcoyotl·

-a dike 16 km. long, built by the Azteca under the guidance oC Tetzcocauteclw.iciana in 1449-besides protecting th e capital írom flooding musthave improved the possibilitiea oCland reclamation, by means oí chinampas.

iu the marshes oC tbat arell,4. The c/¡jnampa system can thus be classHied as drainage an d irrigntion. The

building oC th e islands ia a very effective mcaos oC reclamation and tbeircultivation iB a specialized an d sophisticated method oC gardcning,

8/4/2019 Arm Ill as 1961


in th e chinampas; cuitlauia, nitla., means ' to manure',

from cuitlatl, excremento Aquatic plants an d slime

are currently used as fertilizer in the chinampas an d

Sanders has found that th e compost pile (tlat;otlalli,

cf. Molina : cosa gomitada, spewed matter) includes

human excremento Indeed, th e ancient name Cuitlauac

of modern Tláhuac, one of th e main towns in th e

chinampas zone of th e southern lakes, an d it s hiero

glyphic sign (as seen in Codex Mendoza), indicate th e

practice of using excrement to fertilize th e soil.Indeed, th e use of human excrement to manure

th e flelds seems to have heen widespread in the

central Mexican area of intensive agriculture, to

judge from the remark of an eyewitness that along

th e country trails it wa s collected from henevolent

passers-hy in places pnrposefully disposed (BernalDíaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista

de la Nueva Espana, ch_ XCII). Although, rather

hafHingly, he mentions_ only it s use for tanning, this

might refer simply to the cargos sold in the great

market place of Tlatelolco, where i t wa s hrought in

canoes for industrial purposes; after all, tanneries

were no t so important in pre-Spanish economy.

Although th e specialized teehnique of huildingartificial islands hy piling up aquatic plants an d silt

was seemingly restricted to the lakes in the Valley of

Mexico, th e methods for intensive cultivation descri

hed above in association with th e chinampa sys tem

such as th e use of seedheds, transplanting, an d manual

watering of th e individual plants using wooden scoops

or other containers-appear to have been widely

known in th e districts of intensive agriculture. Th e

modern Tarascan Indian gardens along th e shores

of Lake Pátzeuaro deserihed hy West [83, p. 47],merely represent th e continuity of a pre-Columbian

local technical tradition, to judge from allusive

references in sixteenth-century documents.

Another aspect of ancient Mesoamerican improv ement techniques that until now ha s been generally

overlooked, is th e importance of agricultura! tenaces,

mainly as a basic conservation measure to prevent

soíl erosion an d to retain moisture on th e hillsides.

An extensive system of irrigated tenaces is known

however-that of th e piedmont area of th e former

Acolhua kingdom, mentioned ahoye.

Dry tenaces, faced with stone retention walIs or

protected with earth embankments hedged with

maguey, are'found, ruined or stíll in use, over a large

area of central an d southern Mexico north of th e

Isthmus of Tehuantepec, an d in th e humid zones of

th e Chiapas an d Guatemalan highlands to British

Honduras. Very large areas ar e so terraced in the

mountains to the south of th e Valley of Mexico,

begínning at the plain's edge an d mounting to the

zone of th e pine foresto Many terraced hillsides are

seen in aerial photos of th e mountainous Mixtec

regíon of north-western Oaxaca. Old abandoned

tenaces were encountered by Dr. Sanders an d myself


near Iztacamaxtitlan, just north of th e Tlaxcalan

horder, when we were retracing with sore feet a stretch

of Cortés' route to the conquest of Mexico. Fo r a

résumé of th e data on southern Mesoamerica see

Lundell [48, p. 9].The possible antiquity of most of these constructions

has no t yet been investigated. The 1579 'Relación

de Chilchota', Michoacán, by a minor colonial officer,

describes some stepped hills, cu t into tenaces about

84 cm. in width which were faced with stone retention

walls, reputedly used in ' ancient times' to plant maize,

which had heen ahandoned for an indeterminate hut

seerniogly long periodo Those of th e British Honduras

Petén zone, on th e limestone plateau between th e

rivers Macal an d Chiquihul, have been tentatively

dated hy Dr. Erie Thompson (quoted in Lundell

[48, p. 10]) as being of late Tepeu age (roughly

A.D. 750-900).The only irrigated terraces of which I have

knowledge are those of th e Tetzcocan piedmont

area already mentioned. There, th e hills are artificially

reshaped in rather regular forms, cu t in straight lines.

Th e tenaces are well levelled, an d contomed with

dry-masonry walls. The water was conveyed by th eaqueducts described to the highest terraces, an d

distrihuted by hranching canals from bench to bench

down th e stepped hillsides. The age an d historical

setting of th e building of that system has been c o m ~ mented upon ah ove. Most of th e terraces are still in

use an d watered by th e canals, although th e highest

ones in the royal gardens an d in other places are

abandoned and decayed, th e same as th e upper aque

ducts that supplied them with water.

Th e functional relationships between th e improve

ment of land use methods-with th e techniques of

reclamation an d conservation, principalIy hydraulic

works-and population, settlement pattern, and th e

social an d political structures, within th e Mesoamerican area of civilization, constitute a fascinating suhject

of research that has begun to he explored only recently.

Th e preliminary results of th e studies made to date

can he summarized as follows : it is true that over most

of th e area of seasonally dr y climate outlined ahoye,

physiographic conditions in conjunction with the

relative technological development, limited th e irri

gation to small-scale enterprises that could be accom

plished with th e resources of a single community,

or a small cluster of local communities politically

integrated in a small principality. Nevertheless, th e

significant fact is that i t was no t so everyv.rhere.

In other zones, as for example th e Nexapa River

valley in southern Puehla, th e disposition of th e

irrigated lands of many communities along a river

must have made centralized control of w a t e r ~ u s e necessary. In fact, it is known that th e Coatlalpan

province-which includes th e Nexapa Valley-and

th e adjoining province of th e Amilpas (whose name

derives from ami/li, meaning irrigated fields) were

267

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prize irrigation districts, forming a ke y eeonomicarea. The famolls religiolls an d commercial centreof Chollolan was located on th e upper end of thiscompact irrigation zone, that extended downwardsto Atlixco an d Itzocan, which were also importanturban centres at th e time of th e Spanish conquest.In th e lower parts of this irrigation district th e lesser

altitude permitted th e cultivation of cotton-animportant trade commodity in pre-Spanish t imes

which was no t possible around Chollolan.

The relative importance of pre-Spanish irrigatedlands and rain farming in the zone of Colima an dsurrounding sections of Jalisco an d Miehoacan ha sheen investigated hy Sauer [69]. His study shows

how th e contrast hetween th e aIluvial soils of theriver valleys, which constituted districts of concen

trated irrigation, an d th e clayey soils of the surroundin g uplands, that were no t too well suÍted for nativemethods of cultivation [69, p. 63], affected th e distrihution of population an d th e degree of- urbanization.There were at least five aggregations of urban importance in the lowlands an d thl'ee in the highlands,each one l'anging from pel'haps five to te n thousand

people. While. th e capitals of th e valieys were th ecentres of irrigation distl'iets, those in th e uplands werecommercial towns concel'ned in different degrees

with mining operations [69, p. 81], although small-scaleirrigation was also practised in that zone.

But by fal' th e largest an d most compact districtof intensive agriculture-with canal irrigation, chinam-pas an d terracing-was th e Valley of Mexico. Thiswas, apparently, th e only seetion where th e term'hydraulic agricuIture' as defined by Wittfogel[89, p. 153] does apply. Some State enterprises for

th e construction an d maintenanee of productivean d protective water works have been mentionedalready, more are known from historical sources.

Sanders' detailed studies of population for th eValley of Mexieo at th e time of th e Spanish conquestindieate a minimum of one million for 8,000 km .2 ofterritory. The total population of the Áztec empireat that time ca n be calculated, on th e basis of differentstudies by various authors, at between five an d sixmillions, for an area of about 200,000 km.2 Thus, inth e Valley of Mexico with an extension of only onetwenty-fifth of that of th e empire, about 20 pe r centof th e total population was concentrated, notwithstanding th e fact that th e empire included sorne ofth e most densely populated areas of central Mexico

outside of th e valley. In relation to th e whole areaof Mesoameriean civilization an d it s estimated population th e proportion is even more startling, for th eVaIley of Mexico, 'with an area of abont a hundredand-twentieth ofthe total, contained about 10 pe r centof the population:

In th e ValIey of Mexico, and in th e southern Pueblairrigation distriet as well, th e number of inhahitants ofa few nucleated urban centres ra n into tens of thousands

268

- and well passed fifty thousand in the empire'scapital, Tenoehtitlan-Tlatelolco. Many rural distrietcentres were towns-with part-urhan funetionsof several thonsand people.

It was on th e foundation of tlle politieal unificationof tbis nucleus that th e Áztec empire' was built,an d archaeology reveals the paramount role playedby that area in Mesoamerican prehistory, before th ebeginning of th e Christian era; this suggests that a

comparable situation, with regard to density andconcentration of population an d inferentially agrieul

tural practices, existed during Teotihuaean times(from ahout 200 B.C. to A.D. 700).

MESOAMERICAN FRONTIER ZONE

Th e northern Mesoameriean frontier zone in northerncentral Mexico is an exceedingly important areain which to investigate th e interrelationships of natUl'al

an d cultural factors in the history of land use.Following th e inland piedmont (from about 2,250 m.

to 1,850 m. in altitude) of th e Western Sierra Madre,

at the edge oí th e juniper-oak-pine vegetation zone,an d along th e savanna (Cw) belt to th e limit of th esteppe (BSkw), th e Mesoameriean cultural patternbecame established, either as a resulto of diffusion

aeculturation or eonquering colonization, after perhapsA.D. 700 (to judge from th e earliest carbon-14 dateobtained from th e ruins of La Quemada, at th e southernentrance to tbis corridor [24, p. 1104]). The northernmost extension of tbis pattern reaehed th e presentDurango-Cbihuahua horder [40, p. 132 and p. 138].

In th e semi-arid zone of th e central section of th efrontier-a region oí transition to the ChihuahuaDesert province-the nOl'thern neighhours of th esedentary Mesoamerican farmers were th e nomadic

hunting-gathering' Cbichimees' (the Zacatecs, Guachichiles, an d Pames). The historie limit between sedentarians and nomads roughly coincides with th e presenthorderline between Cw on th e one hand, and BSk

(in ih e west) 01' BSh (in th e east) climates, on th eother. In view ofthe knownretraction ofthe agriculturalfrontier-attested archaeologically an d by traditionalhistory in territories formerly occupied by sedentaryeultivators an d taken over by th e nomads at thetime of th e fall of Tollan (towards th e close of th etwelfth century, perhaps in th e fust "half of thethirteenth)-it would be of great interest to investigatewhether some minor climatic Huctuation triggeredecological changes, 01' impl'ovident clearing of marginallands for th e expansion of cultivation indueed aridityin that area.

The fact that similar an d more or less contemporaneous troubles are recorded in th e south-west of th eUnited States (see previous remarks on Anasazi an dHohokam and hihliography [38, p. 120]), in the iulandpiedmont of the Western Sierra Madre [40, p. 139], and

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in the eastern margin ofthe Great Plains, tends to favour

th e hypothesis of climatic deterioration. I t Iooks as i fth e North American arid zonc was expanding in al l

directíons between th e late twelfth an d earIy fifteenth

centurics. Since local environmental an d cultural

factors intervene in widely separateplaces, it is not to he

expected that th e effects would havc heen strictly syn

chronous; twelve score years or so is no t an inordinately

large allowance.The apparent coincidence might be a mirage,

however, an d certainly much more factual information

in different licIds of knowledge is necded to decide

th e qucstion; ncw interdisciplinary approaches will

have to he developed., to gather and digest all th e

pertinent data on this complex problem.

PERU

The rise an d progress of th e ancient coastal Peruvian

civilization ar e unequivocalIy related to the improve

ment of th e techniques for full exploitation of th e

riverine 03ses hy Ill:eans of canal irrigation. Only inth e Virú Valley has th e histOly of the development

of hydraulic engineering an d it s relation to population

density an d settlement patterns and, by inference,

to the origins of the State, been studied in some detail

[86, passim, specially, p. 361-.371]. Generalizationson th e history of irrigation works for th e remainder

of th e zone are based on that sequence, an d p r e s u m ~ tively dated illustrative examples from other places.

W have already seen that agriculturc-as distinct

from cultivation supplementary to an economy hased

on wild life-became established aftcr th e introduetion

of maize, an d that it wa s expanding in th e early

eenturies of the first millennium B.C. There are no

remains of canals or vestiges of irrigated plots that ca nbe attrihuted to this period, hut th e attested expansion

of settlement away from th e shore-line, to hottom

lands or on th e valley margins, is presumed to be

related to agricultura! practices, possihly Hoodwater

farming [22, p. 19].In an y event the tapping of the streams for irrigation

may have hegun hefóre th e middIe of th e millennium

in the upper narrows of th e rivers [8, p. 142; 86, p. 31,p. 361, p. 392, and in fignre 82, note the clustering ofsites at th e Quehrada de Huaeapongo]. The latter

half ofthe millennium-archaeologists' Early Gallinazo

period-saw th e heginnings of large-scale irrigation

works, with th e related phenomena of marked increase

in population an d its spread into al l parts ofthe valIeys,

and the formation of th e first large agglomerated

communities of several thousands of persons living

within an area of· two or three square kilometres

[86, p. 396]. This indicates the attainment of a mastery

of water control tha1; must have required a period,

however hrief, of experimentation.

By Late Gallinazo times (early eenturies of th e

Landluse in pre.Columbian America

Christian era), th e Virú Valley canal system extended

from the water intakes in th e narrows (Quebrada de

Huaeapongo an d Upper Virú) at th e foot of the

mountains to the sea. Th e old canal lines an d distri .

bution of settlements suggest that at least 40 per cent

more land was under irrigation then than nowadays

(9,800 ha. against 7,000 ha. maximum today) [86,

p. 394, see also p. 20]. Th e difference prohahly does not

indicate a change in t le total volume of water dis

charged hy th e gorges; i t may welI be due to higher

consumption pe r acre required by the commercial

crops grown today, sugarcane in the upper valley an d

cotton in th e lower section [5, p. 19].

Old irrigation furrows seen in th e neighhourhood

of Huaca Gallinazo, th e site naming th e period, that

seems to have heen occupied uninterruptedIy for

ahout one thousand years (from about 500 B.C. to

A.D. 500), are depicted hy Strong and Evans [78]and reproduced hy Willey [86].

In th e ensuing Huancaco period, during th e middle

eenturies of the first millennium, th e layout of tlle

canal network and the distrihution of population

clusters changed somewhat, without noticeably

affecting th e total acreage of irrigated lands or th e

number of people; the irrigation an d popuIation maxi

ma attained in former times seem to have been

maintained. However, it oecurs to me that the deerease

in land usage in th e sections intensively exploited in

the previous period (according to Willey (86, p. 393]),might he very significant as regards possible causes

of th e general decline of th e Virú ValIey economy

evident in later times.

In th e neighhouring valley·oasis of Moche an d

Chicama, to th e north, impressive remains of

irrigation works are seen. Extensive canal systems

were heyond reasonahle doubt in operation-although

direct dating of the vestiges has not yet been done sofa r as I know-during th e Mochiea period ofthe a r e h a e ~ ological nomenclature; according to CoIlier's an d

Willey's synchronologies i t overlaps Middle and Late

Gallinazo an d th e following Huaneaco periods of th e

Virú VaIley, having lasted for about on e thousand

years, from hefore th e beginning of the Christian

era to one or two eenturies prior to the close of its

first millenary [22, 87].Th e magnitude of th e engineering work involved in

th e building of the irrigation systems ea n be best

evaluated hy th e example of th e Ascope aqucduct,

admittedly one of th e greatest accomplishments ofthe

aneient Peruvian lndian engineers. Th e Ascope canal,

generalIy helieved to date from this period, follows

th e basal eontour of the.hills on the north side of th e

Chicama VaIley, heing conducted aeross a hay of th e

plain over an embankment huilt of earth and adobe,

1,400 m. long and 15 m. high ahoye the adjacent valley

Hoor, an estimated volume of 785,000 m.a of earthwork

[8, p. 157; 43, p. 71; 46, p. 162; 86, p. 411].Also, inter-valley irrigation systems-implying the

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constitution of multi-valley political entltles-weresupposedly built in Moehiea times [22, p. 21], an d acanal over 120 km. long deviated water from th eChicama River into th e lower Moche Valley, to th esouth [46; 65, p. 58].

Willey [86, p. 365] makes the interesting remarkthat th e main irrigated section of th e Virú Valley

through _ he Gallinazo period was avoided in subsequent times. In my opinion, as pointed ou t aboye,this might have a bearing on th e apparent weakeningof th e coastal States in later days, when they becamean easy prey to th e invading highlanders, coupledwith th e astonishingly disastrous e:ffects of th e Spanishconquest which followed, an d also considering t h a t -

contrary to what happened in Mexico-no majorepidemic waS responsible for th e decimation of th eIndian population within half a generation afterPizarro's arrival. The social chaos brought about byth e conquest, and the ravages caused by th e factionwars between th e conquistadores, were certainlycontrihuting factors, but th e deep causes of thedecline of th e coastal civilizations might go fa r backinto times earlier than th e coming of th e beardedwhite meno

The trend to IDove away froID th e older fields,already started during Huancaco times, continuedduring the later Tomaval, La Plata, an d Estero periods(from about A.D. 800 to the Spauish eonquest). A newzone of settlement became occupied, since Tomavaltimes, along th e coastal dune belt. This probablyindicates th e beginning of th e practice of utilizingground moisture by means of th e pukio basins (seebelow) to raise erops [28, p. 34; 86, p. 368]. Fromabout 1200 onwards, diminution of population isevident; most of the valley-bottom dwelling siteswere abandoned, habitation clustered in th e upper

narrows of th e valley an d along th e dune zone. Notwithstanding that sorne canal irrigation was still operativein 1548, at th e time of Cieza's visit, th e pre-Columbianrecession had been evidently aggravated by th e effectsof th e Spanish conquest [21, chapter LXX, in whichth e Virú Valley is mentioned under th e name Guañape].

The population decrease mentioned in th e precedingparagraph has been tentatively explained as an e:ffectof social an d politieal disturbanees [86, p. 421], butth e alternative hypothesis of local failure of th e Írri-gation system fo r purely technical reasons is worthyof consideration, since th e abandonment of th e ancÍentirrigated sections of th e Virú seems to have begunbefore th e major upheavals apparently brought

about by the Tiahuanaco expansion an d what followed.Soil salinization and· excessive rlsing of th e watertable due to prolonged use of irrigation with inadequate drainage may have occurred. That salts mayhave given trouble to th e native farmers in the VirúValley an d elsewhere in th e Peruvian coast is borneou t by Willey's remarks [86, p. 16] an d also by Ford andWilley [28, p. 26], quoting Lareo Hoyle. I t is worth

270

while to note that owing to mismanagement of waterresources, salinization is a:ffecting nowadays th edistriets of Piura and Pisco [65, p. 20 and p. 45].

The soldier an d chronicler Pedro Cieza de León-wrlt ing of the Chilca Valley, 40 miles south fromLima, in about th e middle of th e sixteenth centuryexpresses amazemcnt that, in a rainless country and

with no surface running streams available for tapping,th e place was verdant with cultivated fields. Togrow maize, vegetables, and fruit trees, th e Indiansplanted in wide an d deep basins purposely dug inth e soil, to capture underground moisture at root levelof the plants [21, ehapter LXXIII].

Willey [86, p. 16] reports that there are arehaeolo-gical remains of this practice in th e dune helt frontingth e ocean shore at th e lower Virú Valley : basins-sometimes rectangular, sometimes irregular, varyingin size from 100 X 50 m. to 30 X 30 m., sunk about1 ID . below th e surrounding ground surface an d separated by ridges 2 to 4 m. high, built up with th e soilremoved froID th e excavations-dug by man, serveto retain seepage water which lies closest to th e surfacenear the beach [cf. 5, p. 19] on th e groundwaterlevel in this valley). These basins are known locallyas pukios.

The only indications of age are th e proximity ofsuch excavated hollows to a ruin certainly datingfrom th e Tomaval perlod (beginning towards th e en dof the fust millennium A.D.) an d surface potsherdsfrom th e same an d subsequent periods, up to Colonialtimes, collected in another area of pukio cribs, bothplaces being situated in the lower valley, no t fa rfrom th e beach. Th e concentration of habitationsites dating from th e Tomaval and La Plata perlods(up to the late fifteenth century) in the dune belt,where th e groundwater level is higher, suggests a

relationship hetween th e shifting of populationto that zone an d th e beginning of th e practice [86,p. 368]; whether i t might be older in other places isno t known.

Horkheimer [37, p. 78] also mentions this ancienttechnique for obtaining undersurface watering, an ddescribes two such great basins, one of them about500 ID . long an d 10m. deep, surrounded on three sideshy ridges an d open on th e fourth side facing th e sea.This basin was dug a short distance from th e beachnear th e ruins of th e former Chimu capital of Chanchan(fourteenth an d fifteenth centuries), on th e northcoast of Moche VáIley. The same author quotes Regal[64, p. 104] for similar ancient hollows in Chala,

Mala, Atiquipa, Atico, an d Pica. Reparaz [65]illustrates modern cultivation of cotton utílizingunderground moisture in th e desert Pampa de Villa-curí, hetween Pisco an d Ica.

An excellent report on the state of natíve irrigationin the coastal valleys in 1 5 4 8 ~ 1 5 5 0 , after th e c a t a s ~ trophic depopulation brought about hy th e factíonwars among th e Spanish conquistadores, is given

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hy Cieza de León [21, chapters LVIII-LXXV]. This

author had a remarkahle understanding of th e ínter

relationships hetween environment, technology,

population, an d society; to read bis descriptions and

pointed comments is an intellectual delight.

On vestiges of aneient hydraulic works, an d on canalsstill in use hut reportedly built in pre-Colonial times,

see Horkheimer [37, p. 72].

TH E ANDEAN PLATEAUX

Th e southern highIands of Peru and th e adjacent

section ofBolivia at th e southern end of Lake Titicaca,

is a zone of great historical importance, since i t wa s

there that th e powers that were to overrun th e old

coastal civilizations an d to unify th e Andean area

(the uplands as well as th e Pacific coast) originated

an d grew.Th e firat manifestation of these expansionistic

tendencies is inferred froro th e archaeological record of

th e spread of th e Tiahuanaco style, which for a com

paratively short period after th e eighth century A.D.

extended from highland centres (Wari, near Ayacucho,

an d Tiahuanaco, Bolivia) over most of the area later

incorporated into the Inca empire. I t might have

been diffused by penetration in some cases, by conquest

in others. This may or may no t have involved highland

dominated political consolidation but, in an y case,

that expansion constituted a precedent of pan-Andean

unification by influences denved from the_ central

highlands, and therefore foreshadowed th e Tawantinsuyu, th e Land of the Four Quarters mastered by th e

Inca lords.

Th e second manifestation was th e expansion of

th e Inca empire, from its nucleus in th e high Cuzco

Valley, to engulf th e huge area that extends fromnorthern Ecuador to south central Chile an d north

western Argentina. I t is even more astonishing that

this was accomplished in th e short span of three

generations (from th e crowning of Pachacuti, 1438,to th e death of his grandson Huayna Capac, 1527).

On what basis of manpower, an d hence, of subsis

tence economy and land use, did th e power of these

conquerors originally rest? Th e archaeology of the

Andean hinterland being, as yet, insufficientIy known,

it would be unwarranted to attempt a historical

account-with dimension of t ime-depth-of th e

development of land use methods. What follows,

therefore, is founded mostIy on th e ethnographic

record, datingfrom

th etime of

th e Spanish conquest.

Morphology has a paramount importance in deter

mining th e ecological conditions over th e area which

concerns us here. The high plateaux surrounded by

snow-covered mountain ranges are much too high

for _prosperous agriculture, or ahoye th e uppermost

limit of cuItivation (punas). Th e altitudes more

favourable to diversified farming are found in a few

Land US6 in pre-Columbian America

mountain vaIleys, on th e steep slopes of th e deep

river canyons, or in their narrow bottoms. Th e domi

nant type of climate in th e inhabited zones is meso

thermal 5avanna, with cool summers an d a winter

dry 5ea50n lasting from April or May to October

or Novernher (CwbJ. However, changes in aItitude

produce, of course, great thermic differences within

very short distances.

Sixteenth century geographical descriptions indicate

that th e Quechua Indians preferred to settIe at an

altitude intermediate between th e puna pastures an d

th e tillahle land ofthe valIeys an d canyons [44, p. 332].

From the viewpoint of productivity, i t is noteworthy

that th e 'Spanish feudalistic encomiendas were pre

ferentiaIly established in th e deeply di5sected country,

leaving th e high plateau region free from colonial

interference until well after th e middle of th e sixteenth

century [44].Th e Indians mastered this rather difficult environ

ment by means of altitudinal zoning of land use an d

land reclamation an d soíl conservation by terracing

an d irrigation.

Altitudinal zoning of land use presupp05es progres

sive adaptative an d selective improvement of

cultivated plants to grow under quite astringent

environmental conditions, and the taming of grazing

animals to utilize th e meagre resources of th e high

punas ahoye th e uppermost limit of cuItivation or in

places otherwise unsuitable for agriculture. Maizewa s th e main subsistence crop below about 3,400 ID.,

although some was grown in sheItered sun-warmed

slopes aboye Lake Titicaca as high as 3,900 m. [70,p. 490]. Diversified cultivation with maize and potatoes

shifting in relative importance with th e aItitude,

centred in th e 3,000-3,500 m. zone. At higher altitudes,

to about 4,250 m., microthermic frost-tolerating

plants such as quinoa (Chenopodium quinoaJ, hitterpotatoes, an d oca (Oxalis cremata), were grown to th e

upper limit of cultivation. Higher still (t o about

4,500 m.) th e high punas were utilized for pasturage

of llamas an d alpacas.

I t is worth while to note that th e efficient use of th e

availahle suhsistence resources was greatly increased

by th e development of techniques for food preservation

hy means of drying and freezing [6, p. 15; 37, p. 56],

and preparation of otherwise unpalatable foods,

such as th e hitter potatoes [70, p. 516].

Th e long dry season an d low rain efficiency due to

very high run-ofi' losses, make irrigation necessary

nearly everywhere in th e deeply canyoned sections

ofth e highlands,

althoughsome q u i c k ~ g r o w i n g crops

ca n be raised without i t in th e rainy season [66, p. 211],and th e ColIas of th e high-plateau area of th e north

Lake Titicaca hasin depended on rain-farming exclu

sively, heing subject to famine when rains were defi

cient [21, chapter XCIX].

Th e valleys are generally deep and narrow, and th e

amount of irrigahle hottom land very limited. Further-

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more, valley fields are liable to he washed over hy th e

Hood from th e precipitous slopes in the rainy season.

Th e second, hut not th e least, achievement of th e

highIanders to master their environment was th e

reclamation for agriculture of th e steep mountainsides

by means of stone-faeed irrigated terraees.

Incredihly steep slopes were eonquered for culti

vation hy terraeing an d sometimes whole -valleys

were reshaped and regraded. Rowe [66, p. 210]

mcntions as outstanding examples thosc at Yucay

an d Ollantaytamho, an d Cieza de León [21,

ehapter XCI) refers with admiration to those at the

Valley of Xaquixaguana. A series of amazing air

and ground views of telTaced steep slopes in the

Colea an d Andagua valleys, north-north-west from

Arequipa, were pubJished by Shippee [75]. Detailed

descriptions, maps, an d photographs of aneient

terraces in th e Vileabamha mountain range are

found in th e report of the Viking Fund's explorations

[27].Irrigation canals often ra n for miles along th e side

of a valley to irrigate a comparatively smalI terraced

area [66, p. 233].Not very much is known of th e origins and deve

lopment of th e teehniques of reclamation hy meanS of

tenace construction, although many ofthe complicated

tenace arrangements could he assigned to th e first

millennium of th e Christian era, aceording to Bennett's

remarks [6, p. 21 ; 8, p. 157]. Sorne of th e ancient

terraces are stilI cultivated but many are ahandoned.

THE CHILEAN DESERT

The resourees that th e desert extending along th e

Pacific from latitude 18° S. to ahout 30° S. offers

for th e suivival ofpopulations with simple technologiesar e severely limited. As along the Peruvian coast to

th e north, rainfall is sporadic-no rain may fall for

years, but here, hecause of th e composite effects of th e

Humboldt cold current parallcl to th e shore and th e

prevailing winds, even th e slopes of the Andes are

dr y an d bare; no permanent stream reaches th e ocean

hetween Pisagua an d Copiapó. Nevertheless, th e

dryness is lessened at times by sea fogs, especially in

winter (elimate BWkn); from just north of Taltal

to the south, th e desert eoast is fringed hy a heIt

of loma vegetation (annual grasses an d herhs) whieh

increases in width southward [9, 10, passim].

Similar eeological conditions may have prevailed

for a long time in th e past, for, in his excavations at

several plaees along this coast, Bird [9, p. 314] found

no evidence for any signifieant change in precipitation

or wild life within th e known period of human occu

pation, extending hack, presumahly, over 4,000 years

[see 87, figure 11, sequence chart]. Nor- does Bennett

[6, p. 600] see the need to explain by cHmatic change

th e fact that vestiges of irrigation ditches are found

272

in some now waterless sections or of old algarroho

trees partially burled by sand; such occurrences,

he writes, might he accounted for in other ways.

However, a more general distrihution of springs

an d groundwater is implied hy th e location of sites,

and is horne ou t hy some of Bird's own remarks.1

This is pointed out hy Schaedel, who also makcs an

interesting reference to the observed changing dip

of the wator table [73, p. 34].Prior to the introduction of agriculture th e early

inhahitants of the driest sections ha d no alternative

hut marine suhsistence, since game must have heen

always to o scarce to he even oí sccondary economic

importance. The choice oí camp locations for th e

s h o r e ~ d w c I l i n g people wa s further restricted hy th e

prevalence of heavy seas, scarcity oí sheItered places,

and irregular availahility of drinking water. South

oí , th e 25° parallel, land game, supported in limited

numbers by th e coastal vegetation, allowed them to

supplement fishing with hunting; also, a water supply

is less difficult to secure. Agricultural expansion was

restricted hy th e limited volume of water availahle

for irrigation and the small size oíthe valley hottoms;along much of th e coast hetween Arica an d Coquimho,

farming never replaced entirely th e mode of life hased

on fishing and hunting.

In th e ía r north, incipient cultivation appears

perhaps at ahout th e heginning of th e Christian era,2

with maize, gourds, and cotton, the latter possihly

cultivated but perhaps wild [9, p. 248]. Howevcr,th e pattern oí weIl-established agriculture found

in Inca times in th e valleys oí th e Arica hinterland

th e year-round Howing Lluta River and the Azapa,

of intermittent streams now running only with o c c a ~ sional :fioods-does not appear to have developed

until th e cIose of th e first milIennium, coinciding

with th e Tiahuanaco expansion from th e centralAndes that also inHuenced this zone.

Farther south, th e incipient farming s ~ a g e is repre

sented by maize, gourds, and cotton, found in th e

trash deposits at th e ancient fishing station of Punta

Pichalo, hy Pisagua, showing evidence of cultivation

in th e vicinity oC that site heginning, apparently,

very early in th e Christian era. Nevertheless, th e

economy of these people hasicalIy depended on th e

products of th e sea : fish, s h e I l ~ f i s h , and sea mammals

[9, p. 273 an d p. 276; 8, p. 92].

In th e Atacama hinterland, population centred

in th e Calama oasis, on th e Lo a River. Irrigated

agriculture wa s th e hasis of Atacameño suhsistence,

and aqueducts are known that conveyed water íor

considerahle distances; however, the very limited

productivity of th e area impeded an y growth. Herding

wa s also of great importance; th e llamas an d alpacas

l. At Quiani 'perhaplI water was formerly seeured from a well or spring in tbebottom of tb e guUy'; at Punta Pichalo 'perbaps, in former timell, n springwall nvai1able' [9, p. 232 and p. 253J.

2. In th e phase Quinni 2, possibly eontemporaneous with Pichnlo 1 ler. 9,p. 277; 87, p. 3701.

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grazing in th e neighbouring punas supplied meat,

as well as wool an d other raw materials. Llamas also

served for transportation, as pack animals, and thera

is evidence that th e Atacameños acted as middlemen

hetween th e coast and the interior, to north-western

Argentina [6, p. 38; 7, p. 600, and p. 606; 8, p. 90].·The Atacameño culture of th e Chilean oasis looks

like a pcripheral extension of a large zone of puna

adapted mixed economy, i.e., combined, limitedoasis irrigated agriculture an d herding, as mutually

complementary activities for th e exploitation of th e

meagre resources of th e enmonment (Schaede! an d

Munizaga [73, p. 33] mentioning Bowman). The anti

quity of this pattern in th e Chilean section doesno t seem to he earlier than th e latter half of the first

millennium of th e Christian era.

Th e southern Andean arid zone agriculture-and .

grazing pattern of land use extended over aU north

western Argentina-the cold desert high punas,

th e intermontane dry valleys, an d th e piedmont

steppes an d savannas to the Pampean Sierras-and

~ h e ZOne of transition hetween th e northern desert

an d th e centra! Chilean 'mediterranean' climates,in th e present da y provinces of Atacama an d Coquimbo.

The remains of agricultura! terraces are found in th e

high punas, th e Quehrada de Humahuaca, and the

Santa Victoria range in th e north.1 Their frequency

appears to diminish to the south, although th e Calchaquí Diagnita that inhahited the southern part of

th e zOne are credited with irrigation an d stone-faced

terraces for farming [8, p. 88].2 Irrigation was impor

tant in the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Speaking

in general, for th e whole area, hoth irrigated an d rain

farming tenaces are. mentioned in the availahle

summaries, hut their respective distrihution does not

seem to have heen mapped in detail.The extension of th e limited intensive agriculture

an d .grazing pattern of land use over north-western


Argentina does not, however, seem older that th e

latter part of th e first millennium of th e Christian

era, as in northern Chile. I t was evidentIy derived

from inHuences emanating from th e central Andes,

that also brought into these regions elements of th e

Tiahuanaco style. Intensity diminishes towards th e

periphery.Although incipient farming (with maize, at least),

possihly depending on heavy summer rainfall, appearsearlier than that-perhaps in th e early centuries of th e

Christian era-in La Candelaria section (climate Cwa)

of th e Province of Salta, no details are known of this

culture's pattern of land use [85, p. 663] [for dating

see 87, figure 12, sequence chart].

At th e time of th e S p a n i ~ h exploration, nver Hood .

plain farming was practised in the tierra bañada alongthe Dulce and the Salado rivers of Santiago delEstero; native economy depended upon cultivation

of maize, quinoa, heans, and pumpkins, gathering of

wild plants, hunting and fishing, and llama herds

[55, p. 657]. Further south, the Comechingón Indians

of th e provinces of Córdoha an d San Luis, whosedwelling sites were found near strearos or small springs,

are also c:redited with cultivation an d herding hy th e

earlySpanishreports [1, p. 676]. This marks the extreme

south-eastern limit of native American cultivation.

Beyond, the Pampas an d Patagonia were inhahited

hy nomadic hunting hands.

l. For an example oC :irrigoted terracell in tb e high punllll lIee Krapovickns[42, p. ll ] on Tehenchique or Tebenqniche. an ancient settlement at3,500 m. altitudc, in tb e blenk Brea north-wellt oC Antofagasta de la Sierro.As typical examplell of terracell in the Puna, Cosanova [17, p. 620] mentionsstepped billBidell at sarate and Cnsabindo; it is no t clcar from this referencewhether those werll irngated or dry. He also m e n t i ~ o s Coctnca an d Alfarcitoin tile Quebroda de Humahuaco. In tbe Santa Victoria area, Mkrquez}liranda [56, p. 24] mentions Higuerllll and Huoira.huasi.

2. However, Márquez Miranda [51, p. 640] states tbat in the whcle Dioguitaarea ogrieulture depended on roin, an d that terraces (apparently foundonly or mostly in tbe Calchaqui suh.oreo) were a meons oí incrensing rainefficiency, while Bennett [6, p. 40] minimizes th e importanee of Diaguitaterracing.

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A HISTORY OF LAND USE

IN ARID REGIONS

Edited by

L. DUDLEY STAMP

"

w.\'U N E S e o

arm ill as 1961

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