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The Productivity of Maguey Terrace Agriculture in Central Mexico during the Aztec Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Susan T. Evans
Susan T. Evans*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
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Abstract

Maguey cultivators in the Basin of Mexico during the Middle and Late Postclassic (A.D. 1150-1521) periods pioneered the more agriculturally marginal parts of the environment, such as the sloping piedmont zone around the alluvial plain. In their land-use strategy, terraced interplantings of maguey and grain formed the house gardens (calmilli) of their villages. These villages were established sometime around the twelfth century, and by the time of Spanish Conquest they covered the piedmont zones of the Teotihuacan Valley, Texcoco region, and similar areas of the Basin of Mexico. Archaeological and ethnographic evidence permit reconstruction of the caloric productivity of this interplanted terrace system, using modern maguey yields. This productivity is compared with the needs of the maguey cultivators by looking at a particular archaeological example, the Aztec period village of Cihuatecpan, in the Teotihuacan Valley.

Los cultivadores de maguey en el valle de México durante el período Postclásico (1150-1521 D.C.) fueron los primeros en occupar las zonas agrícolas marginales de este ambiente como el somonte inclinado circunvecino a la planicie aluvial. Su estrategia de colonización consistía en entrecultivos de maguey y maíz en terrazas agrícolas. Sus casas estaban dispersas sobre el sistema de terrazas que en effecto formaban los huertos domésticos (calmilli) de sus poblados. Este patrón de asentamiento facilitaba a los residentes del poblado el cultivo de sus huertos domésticos y el mantenimiento de las terrazas. Poblados de esta forma fueron fundados durante el siglo doce, y para el tiempo de la conquista española cubrían el somonte del valle de Teotihuacan, la región de Texcoco, y áreas similares.

El tema de este estudio es uno de estos poblados llamado Cihuatecpan que se localiza en la parte oriental del valle de Teotihuacan. Las 200 casas de Cihuatecpan estaban dispersas sobre el sistema de terrazas cubriendo un área de 3.3 km2 del terreno inclinado del Cerro San Lucas. La evidencia para el cultivo del maguey en esta región durante el período Azteca consiste en documentos etnohistóricos, y en material arqueológico como raspadores de obsidiana y basalto para la extracción de aguamiel y husos de cerámica para la preparación de fibra de maguey.

La productividad calórica de cultivos mixtos de maguey y grano durante el período Azteca se puede calcular de valores obtenidos en México durante el presente. En terrenos marginales el valor calórico de cultivos mixtos es más que el doble de los mismos valores obtenidos de cultivos de maíz solo. Cuando estos valores de productividad calórica son aplicados a los terrenos inclinados de Cihuatecpan los resultados se pueden comparar con los requerimientos de la población estimada de este pueblo.

El modelo resultante de productividad calórica demuestra que Cihuatecpan y otros pueblos de terraza podrían haber sido autosuficientes con respecto a sus requerimientos de comida así como en la manufactura de artículos de maguey y otros recursos.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , June 1990 , pp. 117 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1990

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