Evidence for a Cultivar and a Chronology from Patterned Wetlands in Central Veracruz, Mexico
Alfred H. Siemens 1,
Richard J. Hebda 2,
Mario Navarrete Hernández 3,
Dolores R. Piperno 4,
Julie K. Stein 5, and
Manuel G. Zolá Báez 6
1 Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1W5
2 Botany Unit, Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8V 1X4
3 Instituto de Antropología, Universidad Veracruzana, Jalapa, Veracruz, México
4 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, APO Miami 34002
5 Department of Anthropology, DH-05, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
6 Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones sobre Recursos Bióticos, Apartado 63, Jalapa, Veracruz, México
The patterning found in certain wetlands of lowland Mesoamerica has added an important element to the subsistence system that may be attributed to pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the region. The form of the remains, largely expressed in terms of surface vegetation, suggests agriculture on planting platforms, separated by canals. The physical and chemical aspects of the stratigraphy have clarified depositional environments but have not indicated agricultural horizons. Maize phytoliths at about 1 meter below the surface in two Central Veracruzan wetlands do confirm the practice of agriculture. Associated ceramics indicate wetlands agriculture was practiced by A.D. 500 and perhaps earlier.
Submitted on April 19, 1988
Accepted on July 25, 1988
