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Mesoamerican Subsistence Techniques

Mesoamerican Subsistence Techniques. Mesoamerica ’ s ecological diversity is reflected in the great diversity of domesticated plants. I found these different varieties of maize in a storage room in a Catholic church in Pichataro, Michoacan, Mexico.

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Mesoamerican Subsistence Techniques

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  1. Mesoamerican Subsistence Techniques

  2. Mesoamerica’s ecological diversity is reflected in the great diversity of domesticated plants. I found these different varieties of maize in a storage room in a Catholic church in Pichataro, Michoacan, Mexico.

  3. Dietary Diversity is a function of physical/natural diversity Mesoamerica is an overwhelmingly mountainous region, which is a primary reason for the high level of diversity in the physical environment.

  4. This slide explains why mountain-building has been so frequent in Mesoamerica. Remember the importance of subdusction.

  5. Mole (cacao and chiles) Cheese and onions Cacao Avocado The great diversity of native food plants, in italics, contributed to the region’s diverse culinary traditions. The additions of foods from other cultures further diversified the cuisine.

  6. Diagram of the Valley of Mexico in which the Aztecs had their capital city, Tenochtitlan. This valley was in the northern part of Mesoamerica. However the Aztecs had settlements and trade routes that extended to present-day Nicaragua.

  7. Monte Alban, a large Zapotec settlement in Oaxaca, Mexico. Also within Mesoamerica.

  8. The ceremonial ball court at the Classic Mayan site of Copan, in northwestern Honduras. Also in Mesoamerica.

  9. This list demonstrates why Mesoamerica is one of the most important centers of plant domestication. S. Mexico, Guatemala and Central America were locations within Mesoamerica

  10. Common market scene, where vendors sell products from plants domesticated in Mesoamerica.

  11. Theobroma cacao: “food of the gods”

  12. Cacao plant growing as an understory tree in a rubber grove in Guatemala. This setting is a human substitute for its natural habitat. Cacao is native to the tropical rainforest, where it grows as a shrub on the forest floor. This rubber grove is a simplification of that setting in which a tropical rainforest tree (rubber) is planted in monoculture. Its canopy shades a monoculture of cacao shrubs.

  13. Rubber-cacao grove: A contemporary system of agroforestry that combines two tropical rainforest plants that were in the New World

  14. Tepejilote in Tiltepec, Oaxaca

  15. Hongos, edible mushrooms, in Tiltepec, Oaxaca

  16. Guajalote, or turkey, in Ixtlan, Oaxaca. One of the few animals domesticated in Mesoamerica. A hairless dog also was domesticated. Not this kind.

  17. Lousy picture of a avocado (aguacate) grove. Where’s the fruit?

  18. Agave farm. Mesoamericans had many uses for this arid-tolerant plant including for fiber and alcohol.

  19. Maize, squash and los insectos, chapulines.

  20. Los insectos preparado. Chapulines. Part of the Mesoamerican diet past and present. Tastes like chicken ;) Not really. Centro de Abastos, Oaxaca, Mexico.

  21. Chapultepec is Nahuatl for Grasshopper Hill

  22. This newspaper reports on growing exports of grasshoppers to Europe.

  23. A Mesoamerican domesticate not mentioned by Dr. west. Cochineal.

  24. Cochineal are the insects that Mesoamericans raised in prickly pear cactus plantations.

  25. Cochineal nests

  26. Cochineal were used for red dye. During the colonial period cochineal was a major export from southern Mexico and Guatemala. Synthetic dyes ruined the cochineal trade

  27. This Zapotec man is reviving it in southern Mexico.

  28. Other Mesoamerican domesticates: Cotton and indigo

  29. Two components of the Mesoamerican trilog, which is maize, squash and beans.

  30. June 1998 January 2003 Bosque Guamil Milpa

  31. West called this horticulture. More commonly it is know as intercropping. More than one single plant species is planted in a field. Maize Frijoles

  32. Chinampas in Xochimilco a region within Mexico City

  33. Chinampas in Xochimilco a region within Mexico City

  34. Chinampa cross-section diagram

  35. Tablones in the flat Almolonga Valley in Guatemala.

  36. Almolonga Valley, Guatemala

  37. Terraces on the slopes above Lake Atitlan

  38. Why did they create these terraces? Terraces near Totonicapan, Guatemala

  39. Abandoned terraces in Oaxaca

  40. Plant Introductions

  41. Produce market in Sebaco, Nicaragua, which contains a mix of Mesoamerican domesticates (tomatoes, chiles) and introduced domesticates (carrots, celery, apples, bananas).

  42. I start every day with a visit to the nearest juice place.

  43. …where I buy a fresh mixture of Mesomerican and introduced plants in a glass.

  44. The juice places regularly advertise mixtures that are supposed to provide certain benefits.

  45. Roadside fruit market in a Banana Republic. Honduras. Fried plantain chips are my favorite bus food.

  46. “My peoples’ chicken”. Actually an introduced domesticate that has become a dietary staple in Central America and the Caribbean. Granada, Nicaragua

  47. Mixed farming: prickly pear cactus and apples. Apples can produce in the tropical montane forest region of Central America.

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