CHAPTER 1 ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATION 55cultures had adopted metalworking, they developed new techniques to suit their interests. Most
metallurgy was devoted to ornamental and ritual objects like plaques, bells, and jewelry. In west-
ern Mexico, however, a tradition of bronze tools (including axes, chisels, awls, and sewing nee-
dles) developed in the Postclassic period, and this tradition was spreading to Central Mexico at
the time of Spanish conquest (Hosler 2003).
Some of the most impressive technological advances of ancient Mesoamerica were in the
realm of agriculture. As populations grew and centralized states expanded in the Classic and
Postclassic periods, Mesoamerican farmers responded by devising new, more productive farm-
ing methods. The primary methods—irrigation, terracing, and raised fields—produced more
food per unit of land compared with simple rainfall agriculture, but at the cost of increased labor
inputs per unit of food output. The process of devising and adopting such methods is known as
agricultural intensification, and this process was associated with population growth, political cen-
tralization, and urbanization. Simple irrigation canals and dams were first used in the Middle For-
mative period, but widespread use of irrigation did not occur until Classic times. By the time of
Spanish conquest, the Aztecs had achieved the ability to elevate canals on aqueducts to carry
water over low areas, a difficult engineering task.
Raised fields, a method of reclaiming swamps for crop cultivation, were one of the most
fascinating elements of Mesoamerican technology. Raised fields were first devised in the Mayan
lowlands in the Formative period, and then they saw heavy use supporting the high population
densities of the Classic period Mayas. The Aztecs later adopted this technology in the swampy
lakes around their capital Tenochtitlán (Aztec raised fields are known as chinampas). Raised fields
are constructed by piling up sediment and organic material from the swamp on long rectangu-
lar platforms, leaving canals filled with water between the fields. Crops planted on the field pro-
duce well, since they receive abundant water from the canals and the soils are fertilized by periodic
applications of muck or organic matter from the swamp. This is a very highly productive agricul-
tural method that was almost completely abandoned in the lowlands after the Maya collapse.
By the time archaeologists first recognized the remains of ancient raised fields in the Maya
lowlands in the 1970s, there was only one place where this farming system was still practiced—
in Xochimilco, just south of Mexico City. The Aztec system of raised fields had been used con-
tinuously since the Spanish conquest, and archaeologists looked to Xochimilco for clues as to how
the method worked. They soon realized that raised fields in tropical lowland areas were some-
what different from the Central Mexican highland system, and archaeologists and agronomists
began rebuilding Mayan raised fields to study their construction and use. A similar program of
experimental raised field construction was being undertaken in the southern Andes of Peru and
Bolivia, where the ancient Inca and Tihuanaco civilizations had also used raised fields. In both
Mesoamerica and the Andes, the modern experiments not only provided clues to the ancient
technology but also led to programs to reintroduce raised field cultivation as a sustainable agri-
cultural method for modern peoples. This is a fascinating case of ancient technology providing
a direct impetus for modern economic development.Other evidence for the consolidation of religious and political power in the
hands of the Mayan elite includes the large stucco masks that adorned the faces of
many Late Formative temple-pyramids (Figure 1.8). Linda Schele and David Friedel
interpret the masks as frameworks for performances of Mayan rulers who linked
themselves with deities and supernatural powers. Many of these structures also served
as the funerary monuments for Mayan leaders.
A spectacular discovery by William Saturno of Late Formative murals deep within
a temple at San Bartolo, in the heart of the jungles of the Petén, Guatemala, pro-
vides new evidence for early Maya writing and religious beliefs that anticipate later