1. Ecology and Culture

2. Maize God

3. Agenda Domestication of plants –maize Climate and crops Cultural ecology –human culture and biophysical environment are linked by dynamic feedback

4. The “living landscape” Western Euro model: we exist in a landscape--separate; we are active it is passive, a backdrop for human activity. Mesoamerican model: exist within a landscape, integrated--both are active and alive--all things possess “life energy” in the essence of spirit which can be understood through parallels and similarities

5. Spirit in this sense is not as western cosmology understands it; not the soul; not an intelligence--an essence of being--in a web of vital spirit. There may be “mountain gods,” but a mountain itself may be a “god” People are corn of the gods

6. Early foragers 12,000-8000 years ago with certainty Earlier (only vague and uncertain evidence) PaleoIndian Period –North American sites dated to 12,000 years ago –archaeological evidence of big game hunting societies: tools; butchering marks at kill sites.

10. Review: A land of many environments Three factors governed rise of agriculture –north-south division, –elevation gradients, –presence of only a few cultigens suited for agricultural manipulation No large animals available for domestication

11. Ideology and cosmology What we believe and how we act on those beliefs. –Ideologies define norms and responses to non- conformities How we fit into the perceived/conceived universe. People of the corn.

12. 8000 BC Earliest evidence of harvesting evidenced by milling stones and burned corn kernels. Seeds of various types, beans also found in archaeological deposits Seasonal foraging, hunting, semi-sedentary groups

13. Seasonality Foraging camps in different niche environments movement across landscape movement between elevation zones Dry season Wet season Band level social organization assumed

14. Case study: Tehuacan Valley PaleoIndian period 10,000 -8600 BC Archaic Periods 8650-2600 BC Transitional to Formative 2600-1600 BC

18. Environment Tehuacan sequence worked out by McNiesh (Tehuacan Valley Project undertaken between 1967-1972) [See pages 86-87 for details] Regional interaction in niche environments Mix of humid river bottoms and dry canyons.

19. Maize domestication Several origins around 4000BC Maize (corn) became staple along side beans and squash, various chilies Limited range of cultigens Key point: harvesting wild plants is not the same as agriculture, but still impacts plant evolution.

21. Maize evolution Tehuacan maize from early Archaic to AD 1500

23. Formative Period Begins 2000 BC preceramic phases variable across space –not everyone developed pottery at the same time; exact source uncertain.

25. Developmental variation 4000-3000 BC Pacific coast Seasonal habitation of coastal plain: shellfish gathering, fishing, gradual cultivation of crops. Microband social organization Lowlands Poor foraging grounds but well suited to cultivation; Archaic toolkits include axes, probably for forest clearing. Band and village social organization.

26. Ca. 2000 BC End of Archaic Period Village life established over much of Meso America Maize a staple crop supplemented by other foods. The process was the same as in Old World…but 6000 years later.