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An essay on energetics: the construction of the Aztec chinampa system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Lee J. Arco  and
Elliot M. Abrams
Lee J. Arco
Affiliation:
1Department of Anthropology, Washington University of Saint Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Elliot M. Abrams
Affiliation:
2Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA (Email: Abrams@ohio.edu)
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Extract

The authors describe an ingenious Aztec form of irrigated field system and assess its costs and benefits. Swamps were reclaimed by digging channels by hand and the excavated soil used to construct embanked fields (chinampas). The banks were anchored by planted trees and the trees, the crops and the water channels created a sheltered space which itself raised the temperature and increased productivity. The construction of the whole system took 25 million person-days spread over 40 years. In their study of the energetics of construction, the authors show that this project, forced on the local community, was within their capacity and comparable to the labour expended on the production of cloth.

Keywords

AztecCentral Americafifteenth-sixteenth centuries CEirrigationagricultureswamp reclamation
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 80 , Issue 310 , 1 December 2006 , pp. 906 - 918
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2006

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