Early–middle Formative Period Subsistence in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico: Pre-Hispanic Plant Remains From Altica

Abstract

Recent excavations at the Early–Middle Formative period site of Altica in the southern piedmont of the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico, provide evidence for early agriculture and plant use in a rural community in the northern Basin of Mexico. In the Basin of Mexico, settled agricultural communities were present in the southern sector of the region from at least 1200 cal b.c. Initial expansion into the semiarid northern sector of the Basin, however, appears to have taken place towards the end of the Early Formative, during the transition to the Middle Formative when agricultural economies based on maize cultivation became firmly established, setting the scene for increased population density and concomitant social complexity.Altica is currently the only community in the Teotihuacan Valley spanning this transitional period that has survived in the face of intensive changes in land use over the last three millennia. Macro- and microbotanical evidence recovered from radiocarbon-dated excavated contexts at Altica provide evidence for maize cultivation and suggest a subsistence economy in transition, prior to the establishment of intensive dependence upon a broader range of domesticated and cultivated plants.

A Glimpse of the People of Altica: Osteological and Isotopic/Radiocarbon Analysis

“…Our original hypothesis was that the four individuals from Altica ate a primarily maize-based (C 4 plant) diet as part of a farming community that had fully transitioned to agricultural practices. While paleoethnobotanical analysis at Altica (McClung de Tapia et al 2019) confirms the presence of maize in diverse contexts at Altica, highlighting the importance of this cultigen for early diets, the overall narrative at this site concerning subsistence practices appears to be more complicated.…”

“…Additionally, the scope of investigation required to test the differences between freshwater and lacustrine resources in the Basin of Mexico is beyond the scope of this preliminary research. Although it is known that lacustrine resources were a significant source of subsistence materials for early villages in the southern Basin (McClung de Tapia 2019), we focus primarily on the identification of δ 15 N values that indicate terrestrial versus marine diets for individuals at Altica. Given that Altica is based in the central Highlands of Mexico, a landlocked area devoid of local, easily accessible marine resources, we predict these four individuals will have primarily terrestrial herbivore diets, identified by DeNiro and Epstein (1981) as having δ 15 N values ranging from 9‰ to 12‰.…”

Before Teotihuacan—altica, Exchange, Interactions, and the Origins of Complex Society in the Northeast Basin of Mexico

“…The northeast Basin of Mexico is much drier and lacks the lacustrine resources and higher biomass than sustained a sedentary foraging economy along the lakeshore in the southern Basin (Niederberger 1976, 1979; Sanders 1976, Sanders et al 1979:289–290; Serra Puche 1988, 1993). Both the botanical and isotopic analyses indicate that these earliest villagers in the Teotihuacan Valley grew maize and complemented it with maguey for food and fibers and also wild plants (McClung de Tapia et al 2019). The establishment of maize farming in the Teotihuacan Valley reflects a broader trend at 1000 cal.…”

“…The Teotihuacan Valley is an important natural corridor eastward from the Basin of Mexico. Excavations at the site and analyses show that Altica's involvement in prestige goods exchanges was more extensive than previously realized(Alex et al 2012;Healan 2019; Johnson and Hirth 2019;McClung de Tapia et al 2019; Nichols 2019a, 2019b;Stoner et al 2015).…”

“…Lastly, prestige goods exchange likely involved food, as well as durable goods. Starch grain analysis suggests Altica villagers also imported sweet potato, yam, and perhaps also manioc, which does not grow in the cold northern Basin of Mexico but can be transported as flour (McClung de Tapia et al 2019).…”