Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:11:24.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Salt Production at Hierve El Agua, Oaxaca

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William P. Hewitt
Affiliation:
Apartado Postal 552, 68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Marcus C. Winter
Affiliation:
Centra Regional de Oaxaca, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Pino Suaréz 715, 68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
David A. Peterson
Affiliation:
Museo Frissell, Avenida Independencia 40, 70430 Mitla, Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

The water control system at Hierve el Agua, Oaxaca, originally described by Neely (1967), has been widely accepted as an early example of crop irrigation. Various lines of evidence including chemical analysis of the water support an alternative hypothesis that the canals and terraces were designed for salt production through solar evaporation.

Type
Reports
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Canseco, A. de 1905 Relation de Tlacolula y Mitla Hecha en los Dias 12 y 23 de Agosto Respectivamente. In Papeles de Nueva Espaha : Segunda Serie, Geogrqfia y Estadistica, vol. 4, edited by del Paso y Troncoso, F., pp. 2944. Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, Madrid, Spain. (Facsimile edition 1982, Mexico, D. F.)Google Scholar
Cook, S. 1983 Mestizo Palm Weavers Among the Zapotec : A Critical Re-examination of the ‘Albarradas Enigma. ’ Notas Mesoamericanas 9 : 3946.Google Scholar
Drennan, R. D. 1976 Fdbrica San Jose and Middle Formative Society in the Valley of Oaxaca. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, vol. 4. Memoirs of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology 8. Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flannery, K. V. 1970 Hierve el Agua (OS-66). In Preliminary Archeological Investigations in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, 1966-69. A Report to the National Science Foundation and the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, edited by Flannery, K. V., pp. 83, 85-86. Mimeographed.Google Scholar
Flannery, K. V., Kirkby, A. V. T., Kirkby, M. J., and Williams, A. W. Jr. 1967 Farming Systems and Political Growth in Ancient Oaxaca. Science 158 : 445454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flannery, K. V., and Marcus, J. 1976 Formative Oaxaca and the Zapotec Cosmos. American Scientist 64 : 374383.Google Scholar
Flannery, K. V., Marcus, J., and Kowalewski, S. A. 1981 The Preceramic and Formative of the Valley of Oaxaca. In Archaeology, edited by Sabloff, J. A., pp. 4893. Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 1, Bricker, V. R., general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Hewitt, W. P. 1968 Unpublished letter to the editor of Science, October 11, 1968.Google Scholar
Hite, R. J. 1961 Potash Bearing Evaporite Cycles in the Salt Anticlines of the Paradox Basin, Colorado and Utah. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 424-D. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Hodgman, C. D. 1950 Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 32nd ed. Chemical Rubber Publishing, Cleveland.Google Scholar
Kirkby, A. V. T. 1973 The Use of Land and Water Resources in the Past and Present Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, vol. 1. Memoirs of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology 5. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Lees, S. H. 1973 Sociopolitical Aspects of Canal Irrigation in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca, vol. 2. Memoirs of the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology 6. Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, R. D., Lewarch, D. E., O'Brien, M. J., and Neely, J. A. 1977 An Archaeological Survey on the Xoxocotlan Piedmont, Oaxaca, Mexico. American Antiquity 42 : 567575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neely, J. A. 1967 Organization hidraulica y sistemas de irrigation prehistoricos en el Valle de Oaxaca. Boletin INAH 27 : 15-17. Mexico.Google Scholar
Neely, J. A. 1970 Terrace and Water Control Systems in the Valley of Oaxaca Region : A Preliminary Report. In Preliminary Archaeological Investigations in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, 1966-1969. A Report to the National Science Foundation and the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, edited by Flannery, K. V., pp. 8385. Mimeographed.Google Scholar
O. Brien, M. J., Mason, R. D., Lewarch, D. E., and Neely., J. A. 1982 A Late Formative Irrigation Settlement below Monte Alban. Survey and Excavation on the Xoxocotlan Piedmont, Oaxaca, Mexico. Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Peterson, D. A. 1976 Ancient Commerce. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Binghamton.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T., and Price, B. J. 1968 Mesoamerica. The Evolution of a Civilization. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Winter, M. C. 1976 Unidades Domesticas del Clasico en el Valle de Oaxaca y la Mixteca Alta. Suplemento No. 6, Boletin No. 7. Centro Regional de Oaxaca, INAH, Mexico.Google Scholar
Winter, M. C. 1984 Exchange in Formative Highland Oaxaca. In Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica, edited by Hirth, K. G., pp. 179214. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar