Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons Faculty Publications Department of Geography & Anthropology 1992 Vestiges of Prehispanic, sloping-field et rraces on the piedmont of central Veracruz, Mexico Andrew Sluyter Louisiana State University, [email protected] Alfred H. Siemens Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/geoanth_pubs Recommended Citation Sluyter, Andrew and Siemens, Alfred H., "Vestiges of Prehispanic, sloping-field terraces on the piedmont of central Veracruz, Mexico" (1992). Faculty Publications. 66. http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/geoanth_pubs/66 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Geography & Anthropology at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. peponts VESTIGES OF PREHISPANIC, SLOPING-FIELD TERRACES ON THE PIEDMONT OF CENTRAL VERACRUZ, MEXICO AndrewSluyter and AlfredH. Siemens Some prominentMesoamericanists long consideredlowland central Veracruzto have been agriculturallyun- productiveprior to the Totonacs' constructionof a canal-irrigationsystem at Zempoala during the Middle Postclassicperiod (A.D. 1200-1400). This evaluation reflects a long-standing negativepredisposition toward tropicallowlands and a preoccupationwith the significanceof canal irrigationin the emergenceof urbansocieties. However,an appreciationof mesoenvironmentsand their ecological interrelationshas led to a reevaluationof agriculturein central Veracruz.In wetlandsto the south of Zempoala, evidenceof canals and plantingplatforms supportingmaize cultivationby A.D. 500 demonstratesthat people were intensivelycultivating that mesoenvi- ronmentby the Classicperiod (A.D. 1450). Moreover,vestiges of sloping-fieldterraces occur throughoutsome 1,000 km2 of piedmont west of those wetlands.Direct evidencefor crops and a chronologyare still lackingfor these latterfields, but ethnohistoricaldata and plant ecology suggest cotton, maZze,agave, and a Prehispanic origin. Algunos destacadosmesoamericanistas han consideradoa la parte central del estado de Veracruzcomo un area improductivadesde el punto de vista agrlcola en tiempos anterioresa la construccionde sistemas de riego en Zempoalapor los totonacos,a mediadosdel horizontePostclasico (1200-1400 D.C.). Dicha evaluacionrefleja una predisposicionnegativa hacia las tierrasbajas tropicales,asi como una preocupacionpor el significadode la irrigacionpor canales en el proceso de formacion de sociedadesurbanas. Aparentemente, el clima subhumedo, la vegetacionde sabana y el sistema de drenajecaracterizado por unaprofunda incision en el terreno,son factores que nofavorecen una alta densidadde poblacion ni el desarrollode sistemas agrlcolas intensivos.Sin embargo, una apreciacionde los mesoambientesy sus interrelacionesecologicas ha sido una tarea utilpara la reevaluacion de la agriculturaen el centrode Veracruz.En las tierrasinundables al sur de Zempoala,las evidenciasde canales y plataformasde cultivoque sostuvieron el cultivode malz antes del 500 D.C., demuestranque este mesoambiente fue intensivamentecultivado durante el horizonteClasico (1-850 D.C.). Ademas,algunos vestigiosde terrazasen pendienteaparecen en un area de aproximadamente1.000 km2 sobre el piamonte que se encuentraal oeste de las tierrasinundables. Sobre las laderas que componenlos interfluviosque separan las barrancas,se extienden algunos alineamientosde rocas que siguen el contornode las pendientessuaves, formando redes continuas en una extension de cientos de hectareas.El contexto ecologicoy la morfologlade estos rasgossugiere un analogo: el metepantli,el cual ha sido usado como terrazaen pendienteen el altiplano mexicano. Esta tecnica agrlcola ha servidodurante mucho tiempo para incrementarla profundidaddel suelo, acelerarla infiltracion,y retenarla humedaden areas subhumedas.Necesidades similares motivarona los agricultoresa construirterrazas en pen- diente en el centrode Veracruz.Queda todavlapor conocerlas evidenciasdirectas de los cultivosy la cronologla de estas terrazasen pendiente.Los datos etnohistoricosy la ecologla vegetalsugieren la produccionde algodon, malz, maguey,y un origenprehispanico de estas terrazas.Por ultimo, cabe afirmarque los datos obtenidosen las excavacionespodran proveer material para coroborarestas hipotesis. Some prominent Mesoamericanistshave proposed that before the Totonac constructedan irri- gation system at Zempoala during the Middle Postclassic period (A.D. 1200-1400), the climate, vegetation,and hydrologyof centralVeracruz precluded intensive agricultureand dense population AndrewSluyter, Department of Geography,The Universityof Texas at Austin,Austin, TX 78712 AlfredH. Siemens, Departmentof Geography,University of British Columbia, Vancouver,British Columbia, CanadaV6TIW5 Latin AmericanAntiquity, 3(2), 1992, pp. 148-160. CopyrightC) 1992 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology 148 This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:36:07 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions REPORTS 149 Figure 1. The location of the central Veracruz study region in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. (Figure 1) (Palerm 1955:33;Palerm and Wolf 1957:15-16, 1972:72-73; Sanders 1953:41-42, 1971: 552-554; Wolf 1959:13). Most of the area is true savannah, the most difficultvegetation for the primitive farmerto cope with, and also the rains in generalare undependable.... The only incentive for heavy settlementwould be on the basis of irrigationagriculture, and . [at Zempoala]this incentive was presented[Sanders 1953:76]. Certainly,the subhumidclimate does make rain-fedagriculture problematic and contrastssharply with the humid lowlands to the north and south (Rzedowski 1978:Figure179). The temperatureof this tropical lowland, bounded by the Cotaxtla River to the south and the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental to the north and west, is high throughoutthe year. Precipitation, meanwhile, is seasonally low; approximately90 percent of the 1,000 mm average falls from late May to early October (Garcia 1970). This regime results in a high potential evapotranspirationrate, an average annual soil-moisturedeficit of 715 mm, and savanna vegetation interspersedwith stands of decid- uous trees-all factors that might well have made cultivation difficult(Gomez-Pompa 1973; Rze- dowski 1978;Thornthwaite 1964). In addition,the annualtwo-week drought in August,the canlcula, coincides with the pollinationperiod of maize, duringwhich a moisturedeficit can drasticallyreduce yields (Claassenand Shaw 1970; MelgarejoVivanco 1980:22). The region's streams, rising in the Sierra Madre Oriental to the west, are deeply incised into a piedmontthat gently slopes down to a narrowcoastal plain. They cannot supplyirrigation agriculture on the extensive interfluvialuplands without the use of pumps or cross-channeldams. The narrow flood plainsthemselves, difficultof access and small in area,cannot have supportedmuch agriculture. However, near Zempoala an arm of the Rio Actopan is atypical in this regardand suited to supply an irrigationsystem based on small diversion weirs and canals (Sanders 1953:37). Seeminglythen, intensive agricultureand dense settlement, with all their social corollaries,could have occurredonly at Zempoalaand did not emergeuntil the Middle Postclassicperiod (A.D.1200- 1400). This content downloaded from 130.39.62.90 on Sat, 6 Sep 2014 20:36:07 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LATINAMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 3, No. 2, 1992] 150 on vertical and oblique aerial Figure 2. Distribution of vestigial field complexes in central Veracruz as located is intended (after Siemens 1980: photographs. No indication of the area covered by each individual field complex and DETENAL 1973:1-8 F3 Figure 1; Siemens et al. 1989:Figure 7; vertical aerial photographs, SRH 1973a of authors). 1-8 F4, 1-8 F5; oblique aerial photographs from 1980 to 1991, in possession form of one annual crop, the restrictedsize of the [riverine]gallery forest and its longitudinal Farmingfor surrounded did not favor high populationdensities or largepopulation centers. The grasslandswhich growth were fragmented; these forests and could not be used agriculturallytended to isolate them. Political units always formed by the rivers.... Lands [at Zempoala]came into use later when application their axes were No case of small-scale irrigationallowed ... urban centers like those of the Highlands [to emerge].... of secondaryformations autochthonousself-generated political developmentis known, however;all seem to be with centersof origins in the Highlands[Palerm and Wolf 1957:15-16]. lowlands, Such an evaluation reflects a long-standing negative predisposition toward tropical in the particularlytheir wetlands, and a preoccupationwith the significance of canal irrigation 1972). emergenceof urban societies (e.g., Sandersand Price 1968; Steward 1955; Wittfogel subhumid, In contrast,closer examinationreveals mesoscale and microscalevariation within the and savanna macroenvironmentand suggestsan upward reevaluationof agriculturalproductivity alluvial populationdensity. The region'smesoenvironments include wetlands, piedmont interfluves, each of these terraces, flood plains, and estuaries. Microenvironmentalvariation occurs within margin mesoenvironments.For example,soil moistureand vegetationvary spatiallyfrom a wetland's toward its center and temporallyfrom dry season to wet season. intensive Two of these mesoenvironments,wetlands and piedmont