The travertine-lined irrigation canal networks of the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico allowed pre-Hispanic indigenous communities to overcome risks of crop failures in an arid setting. Segments of these systems are still in use today, therefore understanding when and how these irrigation networks functioned allows us to identify which attributes of a coupled socio-hydrological system are important for maintaining the long-term resilience of irrigation systems in drylands. This paper summarizes the results of an interdisciplinary study of this prehispanic irrigation network involving mapping, radiometric dating, and diatom analyses of materials extracted from the travertine lined canals. All of the canal networks were functioning by ca. 2000 BC, at the transition from the Late Archaic to the Formative period, which is before archeological evidence for widespread community-level aggregation. Provocatively, some canals are potentially as old as 6000–4000 BC, which would mean that hunter-gatherers initiated irrigation coevally with the introduction of semi-domesticated maize, a tropical species which would require supplemental water in this arid context. The canals both facilitated agricultural intensification and enhanced the distribution of aquatic ecosystems. The resilience of these systems to their unique spring dependent context demanded frequent maintenance and the integration of multiple canal networks to mitigate geohydrological vulnerabilities of reduced discharge. These conditions set up a long-term reciprocal dynamic between people and water in the Tehuacán Valley. The results demonstrate that rigidities inherent to tightly coupled socio-hydrological systems in dryland settings were overcome by institutional arrangements first developed by indigenous communities deep in prehistory.
AiuvalasitMJNeelyJABatemanMD (2010) New radiometric dating of water management features at the prehistoric Purrón Dam Complex, Tehuacán Valley, Puebla, México. Journal of Archaeological Science37(6): 1207–1213.
2.
AnderiesJM (2006) Robustness, institutions, and large-scale change in social-ecological systems: The Hohokam of the Phoenix Basin. Journal of Institutional Economics2(2): 133–155.
3.
BerdanFFBlantonREBooneEH, et al. (1996) Aztec Imperial Strategies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4.
BhattacharyaTByrneR (2016) Late Holocene anthropogenic and climatic influences on the regional vegetation of Mexico’s Cuenca Oriental. Global and Planetary Change138: 56–69.
5.
BhattacharyaTCoatsS (2020) Atlantic-Pacific gradients drive last millennium hydroclimate variability in Mesoamerica. Geophysical Research Letters47(13): 457.
6.
BorejszaA (2021) Empty Gourds make the most noise: Theories and data in the study of the Archaic period in Mesoamerica. In: LohseJCBorejszaAJoyceAA (eds) Preceramic Mesoamerica. New York, NY: Routledge, pp.37–116.
7.
BorejszaAFrederickCDAlatorreLM, et al. (2014) Alluvial stratigraphy and the search for preceramic open-air sites in highland Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity25(3): 278–299.
8.
BouttonTW (1991) Stable carbon isotope ratios of natural materials: 2. Atmospheric, terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments. In: ColemanDCFryB (eds) Carbon Isotope Techniques. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp.173–185.
9.
BrelsfordCDumasMSchlagerE, et al. (2020) Developing a sustainability science approach for water systems. Ecology and Society25(2): 23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11515-250223
10.
Bringas NostiR (2010) Historia de Tehuacán. México, D.F: Miguel Ángel Porrua.
11.
BrunetJ (1967) Geologic Studies. In: ByersDS (ed.) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 1: Environment and Subsistence. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp.66–90.
12.
ByersDS (1967) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 1: Environment and Subsistence. Austin, TX: Uniersity of Texas Press.
13.
CajigasRQuadeJRittenourT (2020) Multitechnique dating of earthen irrigation canals at the La Playa site, Sonora, Mexico. Geoarchaeology35(6): 834–855.
14.
CaranSCNeelyJA (2006) Hydraulic engineering in prehistoric Mexico. Scientific American295(4): 78–85.
15.
CaranSCNeelyJAWinsboroughBM, et al. (1996) A late paleo-Indian/Early archaic water well in Mexico—possible oldest water-Management feature in the new world. Geoarchaeology11(1): 1–35.
16.
CaranSCWinsboroughBMNeelyJA, et al. (1995) Radiocarbon age of carbonate sediments (travertine, pedoconcretions, and biogenic carbonates): A new method based on organic residues, employing stable-isotope control of carbon sources. Current Research in the Pleistocene12: 75–77.
17.
CarballoDM (2013) Labor collectives and group cooperation in pre-Hispanic central Mexico. In: CarballoDM (ed.) Cooperation and Collective Action: Archaeological Perspectives. Denver, CO: University Press of Colorado, pp.243–274.
18.
Castellón HuertaB (2016) Cuando La Sal Era Una Joya. Mexico, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia y Historia press.
19.
ColínJP (1910) Apuntes Históricos de Tehuacán. Tehuacán, Mexico: private printing.
20.
ColínJP (1921/1960) El distrito de Tehuacán: breve relación de su historia, censo, monumentos arqueológicos, datos estadísticos, geológicos, etnográficos y otros, Mexico, DF: Tipográphica Comercial “Don Bosco
21.
Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) (2015) Determinación de la disponibilidad de agua en el acuífero Valle de Tehuacán (2105), estado de Puebla, 2015, Mexico, DF: Diario: Comisión Nacional del Agua
22.
CONAMP-INAH (2016) Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, originary habitat of Mesoamerica: World Heritage Nomination Proposal. México, DF: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
23.
Dávalos-ÁlvarezOGNieto-SamaniegoÁFAlaniz-ÁlvarezSA, et al. (2007) Estratigrafía cenozoica de la región de tehuacán y su relación con el sector norte de la falla de Oaxaca. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas24(2): 197–215.
24.
DávilaPArizmendiMDCValiente-BanuetA, et al. (2002) Biological diversity in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán valley, Mexico. Biodiversity and Conservation11(3): 421–442.
25.
DillehayTDElingHJrRossenJ (2005) Preceramic irrigation canals in the Peruvian Andes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America102(47): 17241–17244.
26.
DoolittleWE (1990) Canal Irrigation in Prehistoric Mexico: The Sequence of Technological Change. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
27.
DoolittleWE (2000) Cultivated Landscapes of Native North America. New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
DrennanRD (1977) Excavations at Quachilco: A Report on the 1977 Season of the Palo Blanco Project in the Tehuacán Valley. Ann Arbor, MI: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan.
29.
DrennanRD (1979) Prehistoric Social, Political, and Economic Development in the Area of the Tehuacán Valley: Some Results of the Palo Blanco Project. Ann Arbor, MI: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan Press.
30.
EhrlichA (1995) Atlas of the Inland Water Diatom Flora of Israel. Jerusalem, Geological Survey of Israel, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
31.
EngeKWhitefordS (1989) The Keepers of Water and Earth: Mexican Rural Social Organization and Irrigation. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
32.
FabreG (1986) Tufs et travertins du Languedoc et des Causses majeurs. Méditerranée57(1): 66–70.
33.
FarnsworthPBradyJEDeNiroMJ, et al. (1985) A re-evaluation of the isotopic and archaeological reconstructions of diet in the Tehuacan Valley. American Antiquity50(1): 102–116.
34.
FittingE (2011) The Struggle for Maize: Campesinos, Workers, and Transgenic Corn in the Mexican Countryside. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
35.
GasseF (1986) East African Diatoms: Taxonomy, Ecological Distribution. Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany: J. Cramer publisher.
36.
Gil HuertaG (1972) History of the foundation of the town of San Gabriel Chilicatla. In: JohnsonF (ed.) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 4: Chronology and Irrigation. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp.154–161.
37.
Granados-SánchezDHernández-GarcíaMÁLópez-RíosGF (2005) Relación hombre-naturaleza en un ciclo que perpetúa la vida: agua y galerías filtrantes en el valle de Tehuacán. Terra Latinoamericana23(3): 351–361.
38.
HollingCSGundersonLH (2002) Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Washington, DC: Island Press.
39.
HuckleberryGRittenourT (2014) Combining radiocarbon and single-grain optically stimulated luminescence methods to accurately date pre-ceramic irrigation canals, Tucson, Arizona. Journal of Archaeological Science41: 156–170.
40.
HuntE (1972) Irrigation and the socio-political organization of Cuicatec Cacicazgos. In: JohnsonF (ed.) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 4: Chronology and Irrigation. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp.162–260.
41.
JohnsonF (1972) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 4: Chronology and Irrigation. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
42.
Keenan-JonesDMottaDGarciaMH, et al. (2015) Travertine-based estimates of the amount of water supplied by ancient Rome’s Anio Novus aqueduct. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports3: 1–10.
43.
KennettDJThakarHBVanDerwarkerAM, et al. (2017) High-precision chronology for Central American maize diversification from El Gigante rockshelter, Honduras. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America114(34): 9026–9031.
44.
KenningtonK (2002) The Environmental Applications of Diatoms. Quaternary Environmental Micropalaeontology. London: Arnold Publishers, pp.166–184.
45.
KistlerLThakarHBVanDerwarkerAM, et al. (2020) Archaeological Central American maize genomes suggest ancient gene flow from South America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America117(52): 33124–33129.
46.
KowalewskiSAEspinoza HEREDIAVY (2020) Mesoamerica as an assemblage of Institutions. In: BondarenkoDMKowalewskiSASmallDB (eds) The Evolution of Social Institutions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Springer, pp.495–522.
47.
LansingJS (1991) Priests and Programmers: Technologies of Power in the Engineered Landscape of Bali. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
48.
LongABenzBFDonahueDJ, et al. (1989) First direct AMS dates on early maize from Tehuacán, Mexico. Radiocarbon31(03): 1035–1040.
49.
LuceroLJGunnJDScarboroughVL (2011) Climate change and classic Maya water management. Water3(2): 479–494.
50.
MacNeishRS (2001) Tehuacán region. In: EvansSTWebsterDL (eds) Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge Publisher, pp.705–710.
51.
MacNeishRSFowlerMGarcía CookA, et al. (1972) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 5: Excavations and Reconnaissance. Austin, TX: University. of Texas Press.
52.
MacNeishRSNelken-TernerAWeitlaner-JohnsonI (1967) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 2: Nonceramic Artifacts. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
53.
MacNeishRSPetersonFAFlanneryKV (1970) Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 3: Ceramics. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
54.
MangelsdorfPCMacNeishRSGalinatWC (1967) Prehistoric wild and cultivated maize. In: ByersDS (ed.) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 1: Environment and Subsistence. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp.178–200.
55.
MatsuokaYVigourouxYGoodmanMM, et al. (2002) A single domestication for maize shown by multilocus microsatellite genotyping. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America99(9): 6080–6084.
56.
MetcalfeSEJonesMDDaviesSJ, et al. (2010) Climate variability over the last two millennia in the North American Monsoon region, recorded in laminated lake sediments from Laguna de Juanacatlán, Mexico. The Holocene20(8): 1195–1206.
57.
NeelyJA (2001) A contextual study of the ‘fossilized’ prehispanic canal systems of the Tehuacan Valley, Puebla, Mexico. Antiquity75(289): 505–506.
58.
NeelyJA (2016) Beginnings of water management and agricultural intensification in Mesoamerica: The Case of the prehistoric San Marcos Well, the Purrón Dam, and the “Fossilized” canal systems of the Tehuacán Valley, Puebla, México. In: SanzN (ed.) The Origins of Food Production / Los Orígenes de La Producción de Alimentos. Mexico, DF: UNESCO publishing, pp.146–159.
59.
NeelyJAAiuvalasitMJClauseVA (2015) New light on the prehistoric Purrón Dam Complex: Small corporate group collaboration in the Tehuacán Valley, Puebla, México. Journal of Field Archaeology40(3): 347–364.
60.
NeelyJACaranSCRamirez SorensenF (1997) The Prehispanic and Colonial Saltworks of the Tehuacán Valley and Vicinity, Southern Puebla, Mexico. Paper presented in the Salt II Session at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Nashville, TN.
61.
NeelyJACaranSCWinsboroughBM (1990) Irrigated agriculture at Hierve el Agua, Oaxaca, Mexico. In: MarcusJ (ed.) Debating Oaxaca Archaeology. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Musem of Anthropology Anthropological Papers, 115–189.
62.
NeelyJACaranSCWinsboroughBM, et al. (1995) An early holocene hand-dug water well in the Tehuacán Valley of Puebla, Mexico. Current Research in the Pleistocene12: 38–40.
63.
NeelyJACastellónHuertaB (2014) Una síntesis del manejo prehispánico del agua en el Valle de Tehuacán, Puebla, México. Revista de la Coordinación Nacional de Arqueología47: 182–198.
64.
NelsonMCKintighKAbbottDR, et al. (2010) The cross-scale interplay between social and biophysical context and the vulnerability of irrigation-dependent societies: Archaeology’s long-term perspective. Ecology and Society15(3): 1–33.
65.
NicholsDLFrederickCDMorettL, et al. (2006) Water management and political economy in Formative period central Mexico. In: LuceroLJFashBW (eds) Precolumbian Water Management: Ideology, Ritual, and Power. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, pp.53–66.
66.
NishikawaOFuruhashiKMasuyamaM, et al. (2012) Radiocarbon dating of residual organic matter in travertine formed along the Yumoto Fault in Oga Peninsula, northeast Japan: Implications for long-term hot spring activity under the influence of earthquakes. Sedimentary Geology 243–244(6): 181–190.
67.
NoveloE (2012) Flora Del Valle de Tehuacan-Cuicatlán Fascículo 102, Bacillariophyta Hustedt. Mexico, D.F.: Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
68.
NoveloETaveraRIbarraC (2007) Bacillariophyceae From Karstic Wetlands in Mexico. Berlín, Germany: J. Cramer publisher.
69.
OstromE (1990) Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
70.
OstromE (1993) Design principles in long-enduring irrigation institutions. Water Resources Research29(7): 1907–1912.
71.
PentecostA (2005) Travertine. New York: Springer Publishing.
72.
PentecostAVilesH (1994) A review and reassessment of travertine classification. Géographie physique et Quaternaire48(3): 305–314.
73.
PipernoDRRanereAJHolstI, et al. (2009) Starch grain and phytolith evidence for early ninth millennium BP maize from the Central Balsas River Valley, Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America106(13): 5019–5024.
74.
PorterSD (2008) Algal Attributes: An Autecological Classification of Algal Taxa Collected by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey.
75.
ProbertA (1969) Bartolomé de Medina: The patio process and the sixteenth century silver crisis. Journal of the West8(1): 90–124.
76.
RaineyDKJonesB (2010) Preferential soft-tissue preservation in the Hot Creek carbonate spring deposit, British Columbia, Canada. Sedimentary Geology 227(1–4): 20–36.
77.
Ramírez SorensenF (1996) The social, political, and economic structure of Zapotitlan Salinas, Puebla, Mexico during the Late Prehispanic and Early Colonial Periods. Master thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin, TX.
78.
Ramírez SorensenF (2008) Reconstrucción histórica basada en datos documentales, arqueológicos y etnográficos de los años 1400 a 1600. Arqueología (Segunda Epoca)38(29): 180–191.
79.
ReimerPJAustinWENBardE, et al. (2020) The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0–55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon62(4): 725–757.
80.
RosenswigRM (2015) A mosaic of adaptation: The archaeological record for Mesoamerica’s Archaic Period. Journal of Archaeological Research23(2): 115–162.
81.
Ruiz-CordovaJPLozano-GarcíaSCaballeroM, et al. (2019) Historia de la vegetación, ambiente y evidencia de actividad humana de los últimos 6,000 años en el lago alpino La Luna, Nevado de Toluca. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad90(0): 91.
82.
Sandoval-MontesIC (2011) Identificación de los flujos subterráneos que alimentan al acuífero de Tehuacán en el estado de Puebla, México, con base en indicadores hidrogeoquímicos y la temperatura del agua subterránea. Revista Geográfica 149: 131–141.
83.
ScarboroughVL (2003) The Flow of Power: Ancient Water Systems and Landscapes. Santa Fe, NM: School for Advanced Research Press.
84.
ScarboroughVL (2006) An overview of Mesoamerican water systems. In: LuceroLJFashBW (eds) Precolumbian Water Management: Ideology, Ritual, and Power. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, pp.223–235.
85.
ScarboroughVLLuceroLJ (2010) The non-hierarchical development of complexity in the semitropics: Water and cooperation. Water History2(2): 185–205.
86.
Secretaría de Agricultura y Recursos Hidráulicos (SARH) (1982) Estudio Socioeconómico y Ccultural corredor Poblano-Oaxaqueño region de alerías Valle de Tehuacán, Puebla. Mexico, DF: SARH.
87.
Silva-RomoGMendoza-RosalesCCCampos-MadrigalE, et al. (2020) Geological Sheet Tehuacán 14Q-i-(10), Puebla and Oaxaca states, southern Mexico. Journal of Maps16(2): 17–27.
88.
SissonEBLillyTG (1994) A Codex-style mural from Tehuacan Viejo, Puebla, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica5: 33–44.
89.
SmithBD (2005) Reassessing Coxcatlan Cave and the early history of domesticated plants in Mesoamerica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America102(27): 9438–9445.
SmithCE (1967) Plant remains. In: ByersDS (ed.) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 1: Environment and Subsistence. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp.220–255.
92.
SomervilleADCasarIArroyo-CabralesJ (2021) New AMS radiocarbon ages from the preceramic levels of Coxcatlan Cave, Puebla, Mexico: A Pleistocene occupation of the Tehuacan Valley?Latin American Antiquity32(3): 612–626.
93.
TellmanBBauschJCEakinH, et al. (2018) Adaptive pathways and coupled infrastructure: Seven centuries of adaptation to water risk and the production of vulnerability in Mexico City. Ecology and Society23(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09712-230101
94.
Torres-RodríguezEVallebueno-EstradaMMartínez GonzálezJ, et al. (2018) AMS dates of new maize specimens found in rock shelters of the Tehuacan Valley. Radiocarbon60(3): 975–987.
95.
Valiente-BanuetACasasAAlcántaraA, et al. (2000) La vegetación del valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán. Botanical Sciences67: 25–74.
96.
Vallebueno-EstradaMRodríguez-ArévaloIRougon-CardosoA, et al. (2016) The earliest maize from San Marcos, Tehuacán is a partial domesticate with genomic evidence of inbreeding. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America113(49): 14151–14156.
97.
VelezMISalgadoJBrennerM, et al. (2021) Novel responses of diatoms in neotropical mountain lakes to indigenous and post-European occupation. Anthropocene34(4): 100–294.
98.
VeraLGarcíaS (2020) International recognition of the biocultural protection in dryland regions: The World heritage Property in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve. In: LucatelloSHuber-SannwaldEEspejelI, et al (eds) Stewardship of Future Drylands and Climate Change in the Global South: Challenges and Opportunities for the Agenda 2030. New York: Springer Publisher, pp.215–226.
99.
VillaseñorJLDávilaPChiangF (1990) Fitogeografía del valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán. Botanical Sciences (50): 135–149.
100.
WilliamsE (2009) Salt production and trade in ancient Mesoamerica. In: StallerJCarrascoM (eds) Pre-Columbian Foodways. New York: Springer Publisher, pp.175–190.
101.
WilliamsE (2021) Salt-making in Mesoamerica: Production sites and tool assemblages. Ancient Mesoamerica. 1–23. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536121000031
102.
WinsboroughBMCaranSCNeelyJA, et al. (1996) Calcified microbial mats date prehistoric canals—radiocarbon assay of organic extracts from travertine. Geoarchaeology11(1): 37–50.
103.
WoodburyRBNeelyJA (1972) Water control systems of the Tehuacán Valley. In: JohnsonF (ed.) The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, Volume 4: Chronology and Irrigation. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, pp.81–153.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
