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HOLOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENT AND PREHISPANIC LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN THE BASIN OF

MEXICO

Emily McClung de Tapia

Ancient Mesoamerica / Volume 26 / Issue 02 / September 2015, pp 375 - 389

DOI: 10.1017/S0956536115000243, Published online: 29 December 2015

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0956536115000243

How to cite this article:

Emily McClung de Tapia (2015). HOLOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENT AND PREHISPANIC LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN THE
BASIN OF MEXICO. Ancient Mesoamerica, 26, pp 375-389 doi:10.1017/S0956536115000243

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Ancient Mesoamerica, 26 (2015), 375–389
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2015
doi:10.1017/S0956536115000243

HOLOCENE PALEOENVIRONMENT AND

PREHISPANIC LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION IN THE
BASIN OF MEXICO

Emily McClung de Tapia

Laboratorio de Paleoetnobotánica y Paleoambiente, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad
Universitaria, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Delegación Coyoacán, México, DF, MÉXICO C.P. 04510

Abstract
Paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological data generated over the past three decades for parts of the Basin of Mexico are little known
among archaeologists working in the region. This paper summarizes and evaluates what is currently known about the prehistoric
environment, landscape development, and human impact in the region. Archaeological evidence indicates that human activity became
important in ecosystem evolution in the basin during the Middle-Late Holocene. Most traditional paleoenvironmental studies based on
lake sediments, however, generalize results corresponding to this period simply as evidence for human impact. Essentially the same
vegetation communities extant in the basin today appear to have been present during most of the Holocene, albeit with broader
distributions and variability in secondary taxa. Recognizing potential contributions of archaeology to understanding human adaptation to
climatic and ecosystemic change, past and present, should stimulate future research on paleoenvironment in the region.

The goal of this paper is to synthesize and evaluate what is currently
known about the paleoenvironment of the Basin of Mexico, based
on diverse evidence collected over the past three decades from ap-
plying different research techniques and multiple proxies aimed at
situating cultural developments in the region within an ecological
framework. The paper summarizes the current state of knowledge
concerning environment, landscape development and human
impact in the basin. Relevant geographical characteristics are de-
scribed in Sanders et al. (1979) and Sanders (1981), along with de-
scriptions of pre-Columbian settlement distributions. This essay
emphasizes key paleoenvironmental contributions as well as geoarch-
aeological studies to set the stage for future research by defining new
problems and raising new questions. One important consideration is
the relative absence of clear archaeological evidence for human re-
sponse to climate change as part of the complex set of factors that in-
fluenced cultural development (Gunn and Adams 1981).
A considerable amount of paleoenvironmental information is
now available for different sectors of the Basin of Mexico, much
of which is little known outside the realm of Quaternary specialists.
Sanders et al.’s (1979) landmark publication included a short
chapter titled “The Environment of the Basin of Mexico” in
which the region was defined territorially and briefly described in
terms of a series of zones based mainly on elevation, corresponding
modern vegetation and major hydrological features, including the
lake system and the variability of its extent through time. At that
time, few studies had been published that provided more than a
general outline of possible fluctuations in lake levels and how
these could be related to current understandings of general climatic
trends and cultural developments (Kovar 1970; Mooser et al. 1956;
E-mail correspondence to: mcclung@unam.mx
Niederberger 1976; Sanders 1965). Earlier paleoenvironmental
studies (for example, Clisby and Sears 1955; Deevey 1944; Sears
1951, 1952; Sears and Clisby 1955) provided low-resolution se-
quences, frequently based on insufficient pollen counts, so archae-
ologists had to be content with broad generalizations about possible
environmental conditions. Radiocarbon dating of organic materials
associated with lacustrine sediments and other stratigraphic contexts
was a costly technique requiring large amounts of charcoal; further-
more, only a handful of archaeologists were skilled in the interpre-
tation of detailed paleoenvironmental evidence. Niederberger’s
(1976) excavations at Zohapilco (Tlapacoya) in the southeastern
basin, which generated environmental data in stratigraphic
context, represented a step towards the integration of environmental
and archaeological evidence, but no other comparable studies were
available at that time.
Current data reflect diverse environmental proxies, broadly distrib-
uted across the basin (Figure 1). Unfortunately, numerous gaps in the
evidence at hand continue to hamper the development of a comprehen-
sive vision of paleoenvironmental conditions and change through time
in the region. The review that follows is organized geographically
rather than chronologically because of the difficulty in reconciling
diverse archives to produce an overall synthesis for the entire region,
which in itself represents an important issue for future research.
AN OVERVIEW OF PALEOENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES IN THE BASIN OF MEXICO
Early Efforts to Establish a Role for Paleoenvironment in
Basin of Mexico Archaeology
The earliest and most influential attempt to establish a relationship
between climate, paleoenvironment and human activity in the

375
376 McClung de Tapia

Figure 1. The Basin of Mexico, indicating localities mentioned in the text. Rivers are numbered as follows: 1. Amecameca. 2. Tlalmanalco; 3.
Coatepec; 4. San Bernardino; 5. Chapingo; 6. Texcoco; 7. Papalotla; 8. San Lorenzo; 9. San Juan; 10. Cuauhtitlan. Data proxies: Lake sediments
(Lake Texcoco, Lake Tecocomulco, L. Chalco); Lakeshore sediments (Xaltocan, Cuanalan, Chimalhuacan, Tlapacoya); Alluvial sediments
(Tepexpan, Texcoco, Ticoman, Zacatenco, Teotihuacan, Tlajinga, Otumba Tepetlaoztoc, Huexotla, Coatepec); Volcanic deposits (Cuicuilco,
Copilco); Archaeological sediments (Teotihuacan, Tlajinga, Acolman, Cuanalan, Chapultepec, Tenochtitlan, Cuicuilco). (Map by Gerardo
Jiménez Delgado).

Basin of Mexico was that proposed by Lorenzo (1956), based on la- In contrast to this view which prevailed throughout the 1960s,
custrine records from Lake Texcoco (Deevey 1944; Foreman 1955; Sanders et al. (1979) hypothesized a close correspondence
Mooser et al. 1956; Sears 1951, 1952; Sears and Clisby 1955). In between the settlement history of the Basin of Mexico and what
Lorenzo’s scheme, dry periods were generally associated with they termed “minor” climatic cycling in which dry years were
higher temperatures. High lake levels and generally favorable con-
ditions for extensive agriculture were postulated during the Early
and Middle Formative periods, followed by progressive aridity Table 1. Chronology of the Basin of Mexico
and lower lake levels during the Late and Terminal Formative
Periods Approximate Dates
periods (Table 1); reductions in oak pollen were interpreted as evi-
dence for decreasing precipitation. Although a slight improvement Late Postclassic a.d. 1350–1520
was suggested during the initial part of the Classic period, a trend Middle Postclassic a.d. 1150–1350
towards unfavorable conditions manifest in low lake levels and Early Postclassic a.d. 950–1150
reduced precipitation was associated with most of the remainder Epiclassic a.d. 600/650–950
of the Classic period through the Middle Postclassic. Lake levels Classic a.d. 150–600/650
and precipitation were believed to have increased towards the end Terminal Formative 300 b.c. – a.d. 150
of the Late Postclassic, during the Aztec occupation of the region. Late Formative 650–300 b.c.
Middle Formative 1050–650 b.c.
Contrasting terms such as favorable and unfavorable, or references
Early Formative 1500–1050 b.c.
to improvement in past environmental conditions, although vague
Preceramic 5000–1500 b.c.
and confusing, generally referred to precipitation trends with less
concern for temperature.
Basin of Mexico during the Holocene 377

assumed to be associated with low average temperatures. The Early
Formative was thought to have been cooler and drier than at present,
followed by an extended period of increased rainfall and warmer
mean annual temperature, during which rapid population growth
and spatial expansion took place in the basin. The latter half of
the Terminal Formative was again cooler and drier, prompting the
evolution of irrigation agriculture and the contraction of population
in large parts of the region. Sanders and colleagues hypothesized
that temperature and precipitation increased during the Classic
period, coinciding with the expansion of population into drier por-
tions of the region, followed once again by population reduction and
contraction during the Epiclassic period. Warm-wet conditions were
postulated for the Early and Late Postclassic periods, with an inter-
vening episode of drier colder conditions (associated with popula-
tion reduction and the fall of Tula) during the Middle Postclassic.
Suitable data, however, necessary to test this framework for
climate change and human impact on the environment were as yet
unavailable, and later paleoenvironmental research based on lake
sediments largely avoided the question because of their interest in
earlier time periods as well as the difficulty with interpreting
highly disturbed sediments, generally lumping any variation into
a broad period of human disturbance marked by deforestation and
both indirect and direct evidence for agricultural practices suggested
by pollen spectra.
Modern Vegetation in the Basin of Mexico
Modern vegetation communities form the basis for an informal
working hypothesis that essentially the same vegetation communi-
ties in the Basin of Mexico today were present throughout the
Holocene, albeit with different distributions and proportional vari-
ability in secondary taxa. In general, indicators for changes in
local flora and regional vegetation are among the most commonly
used proxies in paleoenvironmental studies because plants
respond directly to fluctuations in temperature and precipitation,
as well as to climate change over time and catastrophic events.
Although the response times for different plant species and,
therefore, vegetation communities vary, it is possible to model
these responses in relation to the biological requirements of the
plants in question.
Table 2 summarizes major vegetation communities in the Basin
of Mexico and their key components (Calderón de Rzedowski and
Rzedowski 2001; Rzedowski 1954, 1957, 1977, 1978; Rzedowski
et al. 1964); their basic geographic distributions are shown in
Figure 2. In addition to palynological evidence for components of
these vegetation communities in the paleoenvironmental record
from the Basin of Mexico, many of these genera are also represented
among the micro- and macro-botanical specimens recovered from
archaeological excavations and soil profiles in the Basin of
Mexico, further supporting the idea that the principal vegetative
components have been present throughout the Holocene.
Key taxa in the paleoenvironmental record are interpreted as in-
dicators for these vegetation communities, under the assumption
that similar, although not necessarily identical, conditions existed
in the past. This is not to say that no changes in vegetation commu-
nities have occurred through time. Instead, fluctuations in the spatial
distribution of vegetation types, as indicated by key genera, as well
as substitutions in the secondary floral components likely occurred
in response to climate change, volcanic events and human activities.
It should be noted that the absence of specific temperature and tem-
perature ranges for some of the grass-dominated communities indi-
cated in Table 2 reflect variability associated with the opportunistic
nature of grassland taxa (rapid colonization of disturbed areas) in
spite of elevation constraints. The range of temperature and precip-
itation ranges for vegetation at lower elevations varies with specific
geographic location within the basin.
Studies of Basin of Mexico Paleoenvironment
Most paleoenvironmental studies dealing with conditions in the lake
system of the Basin of Mexico (Chalco, Texcoco, and
Tecocomulco) emphasize the Late Glacial Maximum and Late
Pleistocene, with less concern for Holocene developments. This ap-
parent research focus is partially a consequence of the generalized

Table 2. Principal Vegetation communities in the Basin of Mexico (Rzedowski 1977, 1978, 2001)

Elevation Annual Precipitation Annual Temperature

Vegetation Type (masl) (mm) (°C) Dominant taxa

Abies forest 2700–3500 1000–1400 7.5–13.5 Abies religiosa

Pine forest 2350–4000 700–1200 10–20 Pinus spp., Quercus spp.
Oak forest 2350–3100 700–1200 12–20 Quercus spp.
Juniper forest 2450–2800 600–800 11–14 Juniperus deppeana
Mesophytic forest 2500–2800 >1000 12–14 Clethra mexicana, Cornus disciflora, Garrya laurifolia
Oak scrub 2350–3100 700–900 9–13 Quercus frutex
Xerophytic scrub 2250–2700 400–700 12–16 Opuntia streptacantha, Zaluzania augusta, Mimosa biuncifera
Grassland 2300–2700 600–750 Hilaria cenchroides
2250–2800 Buchloë dactyloides
2250–2400 Aristida adscensiones, Bouteloua simplex
2900–3500 Potentilla candicans
3000–4300 600–800 3–5 Calamagrostis tolucensis, Festuca spp., Muhlenbergia spp., Stipa
ichu
Halophytic <2250 Distichlis spicata or Eragrostis obtusiflora, Atriplex spp., Suaeda
vegetation mexicana
Gallery forest 2240–2300 Salix, Populus, Fraxinus, Taxodium
Aquatic vegetation <2250 Typha latifolia, Schoenoplectus spp., Polygonum spp., Cyperus
spp., Juncus spp.
378
Figure 2. Modern vegetation communities in the Basin of Mexico. Modified from: Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y uso de la
Biodiversidad, Mexico, Uso de suelo y vegetación de INEGI agrupado por CONABIO: http://www.conabio.gob.mx/informacion/gis/,
accessed 12 January 2012. (Map by Gerardo Jiménez Delgado).
sense held for many decades that little in the way of significant
change took place once global climate stabilized following the
retreat of the North American ice sheets around 8000 BP
(Anderson et al. 2007; Wanner et al. 2009). Human activity in the
Basin of Mexico, however, became an important factor in ecosystem
evolution during the Middle-Late Holocene. The temporal scale of
most traditional paleoenvironmental studies based on lake sedi-
ments from this period tends to be coarse, the results taken to indi-
cate some sort of human impact as previously mentioned. From an
archaeological perspective, however, (and although there are many
gaps in available data), the Holocene is the period when human ac-
tivity can be documented and meaningfully evaluated with respect
to natural phenomena and the interrelationship between climate
and human cultural development.
Early investigations by Deevey (1944) considered pollen recov-
ered from archaeological sites such as Zacatenco, Copilco,
Cuicuilco and Ticoman. Clisby and Sears (1955), Foreman
(1955), and Sears (1951, 1952) provided the first evidence for veg-
etation changes from the Pleistocene-Holocene periods, based
largely on deep cores in Mexico City (Zeevaert 1953).
Insufficient pollen counts as well as discontinuities in some of the
cores limited their usefulness for correlations between lake
McClung de Tapia
sediments and established geological stratigraphy (Mooser et al.
1956). Moreover, a major problem was the absence of radiocarbon
dates for the sequence. Following Bradbury’s (1971, 1986, 1989)
and Watts and Bradbury’s (1982) diatom-based reconstructions of
the histories of Lakes Chalco and Texcoco, a succession of paleoen-
vironmental studies of pollen, diatoms, and tephras recovered from
these lakes began to appear in the literature, integrating a more con-
sistent use of radiocarbon dating, tephrachronology, glacial records,
and other tools such as pollen concentration and accumulation.
Niederberger (1987) expanded earlier research at Zohapilco,
near Tlapacoya, to incorporate other sectors of the basin and a
broader coverage of the entire pre-Columbian period of occupation,
attempting a descriptive reconstruction of the landscapes of the
region through time based on available archaeological, environmen-
tal, historical and ethnohistorical evidence. The publication of com-
plementary environmental studies carried out at Tlapacoya (Lorenzo
and Mirambell 1986) provided a diverse range of data derived from
what was at the time one of the most multidisciplinary approaches to
the study of human occupation in the southern basin.
Rigorous excavation and complementary geoarchaeological in-
vestigations in the alluvial plains and piedmont zones in the basin
provide additional paleoenvironmental data for the Middle-Late
Basin of Mexico during the Holocene
Holocene. Research conducted by Cordova (1997; Cordova and
Parsons 1997), and Frederick (1997; Frederick et al. 2005) are im-
portant contributions in this respect. Kovar (1970) may have been
the first to point out that increased sedimentation as a consequence
of erosion would raise lake levels, underscoring the importance of
examining geomorphological processes in the piedmont zones sur-
rounding the Basin of Mexico to complement data from the lakes
and adjacent shores.
A schematic view of hypothesized climatic trends from several
lake sediment cores in the region appears in Table 3. Supposed veg-
etation change and lake-level fluctuations based on pollen assem-
blages and diatoms are summarized in Table 4. Various authors
report a significant change in pollen spectra evident in upper sections
of cores, mainly represented by a decrease in Pinus (pine) together
with increases in Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae (cheno-ams;
Amaranth family), Poaceae (grass family) and Asteraceae (sun-
flower family), together with the appearance of Zea (maize)
(Lozano-García et al. 2005). The tendency to group the upper
levels of the sequences is partially founded on Bradbury’s (1989)
argument that the last 2,000 years are absent from the record,
based on extrapolation of the rate of sediment accumulation. For
example, in the Tlapacoya sequence the Pómez Grano Fino (PGF)
tephra at 150 cm is dated to 4880 ± 120 14C yrs BP
(3952–3376 cal b.c.)1 (Bradbury 1989; García-Bárcena 1986).
Diatoms were not preserved in the upper 50 cm as a result of
plowing and consequent re-working of the desiccated lake plain.
Extrapolation suggests that plowing has thus erased the last 2,000
years of the Chalco record. On the other hand, high concentrations
of phytoliths relative to diatoms may indicate the predominance of
grasses and other herbaceous plants in the basin, although the
poor preservation of diatoms is likely the result of subaereal condi-
tions and fluctuating water tables in the absence of perennial lacus-
trine conditions. A similar phenomenon is evident at Tepexpan
(Sedov et al. 2010; Solleiro-Rebolledo et al. 2006), although phyto-
liths were less abundant in the upper part of this sequence.
A series of studies from various localities in the Basin of Mexico
provide a broad sense of changing climate over time, however inad-
equate for an understanding of human adaptation through time.
Table 4 summarizes the findings of this research. The Late
Holocene sequences in Lakes Chalco, Texcoco, and Tecocomulco
likely indicate human impact. The impact of volcanic activity is par-
ticularly significant in Lakes Chalco and Texcoco, and the presence
of large charcoal concentrations in pollen samples are attributed to
fires resulting from ash falls.
Pollen sequences from most of the lake basins in the
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) indicate that significant cli-
matic fluctuations occurred during the transition to the Holocene.
The Early Holocene is thought to have been dry, based on paleolim-
nological data, but pollen records suggest an increase in mesic
montane taxa indicating more humid conditions. Drier conditions
during the Middle Holocene are more or less consistently upheld
by the data, whereas the Late Holocene is confusing because the
long history of human landscape alteration has disrupted the
record. In general higher lake levels for the last 3,000 years in
the Basin of Mexico (Caballero-Miranda and Ortega-Guerrero
1998; Caballero-Miranda et al. 2001, 2002) suggest more humid cli-
matic conditions than during the mid-Holocene, but again the
1
Dates expressed in the text as 14C yrs BP were calibrated with OxCal
4.2 (Bronk Ramsey 2009), using the IntCal13 calibration curve (http://c14.
arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/OxCal.html), accessed 26 September 2015.
379
evidence for human impact obscures the evidence. It should be em-
phasized that the subaereal exposure of the lakebeds at various times
subjected them to deflation and eolian erosion which also contribut-
ed to the removal of sediments.
Geoarchaeological Studies
As mentioned previously, the earliest sedentary occupation in the
Basin of Mexico is reported from Zohapilco, on the shore of Lake
Chalco in the southern basin. Excavations by Niederberger (1976,
1979) were complemented by systematic analyses of stratigraphy,
soils and sediments, limnology, tephras, and faunal and botanical
remains (including pollen). Along with the archaeological
remains, these additional data provide important evidence for pale-
oenvironmental conditions in the southern sector of the basin up to
the Late Formative period. Although these investigations were not
conceived within the framework of a geoarcheological approach
as currently understood, they certainly qualify as precursors to
modern methods.
Based on pollen and macrobotanical remains recovered from
excavation contexts, between approximately 5500–3500 b.c.
Zohapilco was surrounded by dense mixed forest including ever-
green and deciduous elements, grasslands on the alluvial surfaces,
riparian vegetation at the lake margin, and abundant local and
migratory waterfowl (Niederberger 1976). A gradual increase in
plant cultivation was suggested by an increase in the pollen record
of Zea (maize) together with cheno-ams. A significant volcanic
eruption interrupted settlement in the area (represented by the
PGF tephra), after which the area was reoccupied around 2500
b.c. A rise in lake level indicated by a layer of redeposited sand
is reported for 5500–3500 b.c., followed by a reduction in
pine-oak forest and a regional increase in xerophytic genera
(González-Quintero 1986). At the same time, a local increase in
aquatic, riparian and grassland vegetation was apparent. Although
the inhabitants of the site depended largely on riparian resources,
an increase in both the size and quantity of Zea pollen occurred
as well. Gradual modification of the local landscape as a conse-
quence of human resource utilization is evident during subsequent
periods of occupation; deforestation is suggested by the increase
in Zea and herbaceous pollen at the expense of arboreal taxa. A re-
gression of the lake and other indicators for a slight decrease in pre-
cipitation as well as an increase in temperature occurred 1000–800
b.c. (Niederberger 1976). The subsequent phase between 800 and
400 b.c. is associated with relative aridity based on the absence of
forest elements and predominance of Ambrosia and Acacia, together
with a reduction in the amount of Zea pollen. Evidence is negligible
for occupation at the site during the Late Formative after 400 b.c.
There are limitations to stratigraphic evidence in the Basin of
Mexico lake system, characterized by low sedimentation rates and
an overall absence of laminated sediments (Lozano-García and
Xelhuantzi-López 1997; Metcalfe and Davies 2007), and the inten-
sive exploitation of the lakebed following its drainage during the
Colonial period. Confronted with these limitations, Frederick
(1997) undertook a regional analysis of the southeastern basin
that focused on alluvial sequences, particularly stream beds entering
the lake system with evidence for accumulation since at least
ca. 1500 b.c. (Formative period). The important methodological
advance of this research was the inclusion of settlement pattern
data based on regional archaeological survey (Parsons et al. 1982;
Sanders et al. 1979), which provided evidence for human activities
directly related to landscape change over time.
 380
Table 3. Variability in climatic trends based on pollen assemblages from lake sediment cores in the Basin of Mexico and glaciar advances on Iztaccíhuatl volcano

Chalco (Cores E, D, & B)

(Lozano-García et al. 1993; Texcoco
Cal Lozano-García & Tlapacoya Texcoco Texcoco Texcoco (Lozano-García and Tecocomulco Glacier Advances
Years Ortega-Guerrero 1994; (González-Quintero (González-Quintero & (Brown (Sandoval-Montaño Ortega-Guerrero (Caballero-Miranda et al. (Vazquez-Selem &
B.P. Sosa-Nájera 2001) 1986) Fuentes-Mata 1980) 1985) 2000) 1998) 1999; Roy et al. 2009) Heine 2004)

0 Present climate: temperate, Cool, humid Fluctuations between Drier than Temperate, Warm, dry
1000 semi-humid dry and humid present semi-humid Ayoloco
2000 conditions Dry
3000
4000 Temperate Dry lake/Abies Hiatus Dry
5000 forest Warmer, increased
6000 humidity Warmer,
7000 Increased humidity, warmer increased Cold, humid Hiatus Milpulco II
8000 Increased humidity humidity Warmer, drier
9000 Increased humidity Milpulco I
10000 Temperate, humid
11000
12000 Hueyatlaco II
13000 Temperate, Dry (Bs) Cold, humid conditions Cold, humid Temperate,
conditions semi-humid
14000 Cold, dry conditions Semi-humid Dry
15000 Hueyatlaco I
16000
17000
18000
19000
20000

McClung de Tapia
Basin of Mexico during the Holocene
Table 4. Vegetation change and lake level variability in the Basin of Mexico, between approximately 14000 Cal years BP and the present (modified from
Sosa-Nájera 2001)
Period (Cal
Years BP) Vegetation
4200–0 Forest (Quercus, Pinus),
Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae
5700–4200 Abundant ferns and herbaceous taxa
9200–5700 Maximum arboreal coverage, Forest (Pinus with
Quercus, Alnus and Abies)
10,900–9200 Expansion of forests dominated by Alnus, Quercus
and Abies; reduction of Cupressus-Juniperus
12,000–10,900 Forest (Alnus, Quercus, Pinus). Abundant ferns.
14,000–12,000 Open forests (Pinus, Quercus, Alnus)
Frederick documented evidence for radical changes in the course
of the Amecameca River, including at least four channels, two of
which are post-Conquest in age. Of the earlier channels, at least
one was abandoned around 1500–1200 BP (Classic and Toltec
periods). Radiocarbon dates on charcoal in channel deposits indi-
cate that the most extensive sedimentation may have occurred as
late as the eighteenth century. The Tlalmanalco River deposits indi-
cate less re-routing than the Amecameca River. Evidence for tephra
dated by radiocarbon to 5280 ± 130 14C yrs BP (4359–3797 cal
b.c.) (Frederick 1997:20) probably represents the PGF event in
this sequence, a significant marker evident in other areas of the
basin.
Periods of landscape instability in the Chalco region were asso-
ciated with population growth during the Formative period. An in-
crease from fewer than 1,000 to approximately 30,000 inhabitants
took place over a stretch of roughly 500 years, most occupying pied-
mont lands above 2,260 m above sea level. This coincides with a
significant increase in cultivation causing widespread forest
clearance, evident in the Tlapacoya IV (Zohapilco) pollen
diagram between 1600/1530–790 b.c. (González- Quintero
1986). Evidence for major landslides resulting from forest clearance
was dated to 1918–1709 b.c. (without associated cultural materials)
and 1367–1016 b.c. (with associated cultural materials). Rapid allu-
vial deposition resulting from erosion on the piedmont was wide-
spread between 906–804 b.c. Low sedimentation, together with
evidence for soil formation during the period between 400 b.c. and
a.d. 400, bridges both the peak in Formative period population as
well as significant demographic decline in the Chalco region
during the Terminal Formative occupation. Floodplain deposition
was reactivated during the Classic period, after about a.d. 400, and
erosion may have persisted until the Toltec period (a.d. 1164–1207).
This increase in erosion-sedimentation apparently corresponds
to the period in which a large proportion of the population seems
to have already relocated to Teotihuacan in the northern basin (ca.
a.d. 200; Plunket and Uruñela 2006, 2008), suggesting Terminal
Formative period abandonment of piedmont agricultural systems.
Although some resettlement is apparent in this area during the
Classic period, small hamlets seem to predominate (Sanders 1981:
Figure 6.16). A new cycle of deforestation may have begun in asso-
ciation with gradual repopulation. Frederick (1997) suggests that
periods of sedimentation tend to correlate with periods of increased
381
Lake Levels Events
Shallow Human Impact
Increased depth Fires, volcanic activity
Saline lakes with Temperate climate with increased humidity, Glacier
low levels advance (Milpulco II)
Increased salinity, Cold-humid climate with marked seasonality, Glacier
reduction in lake advance (Milpulco I)
levels
Shallow towards Temperate-humid climate
increased depth
Shallow Volcanic activity, followed by climatic stabilization with
tendency towards increasing humidity and temperature,
Glacier advance (Hueyatlaco II)
human population, whereas periods of population decline were
marked by low rates of sedimentation and soil formation.
Frederick also emphasizes a lack of apparent evidence for sedimen-
tation between a.d. 1000 and recent times when the down-cutting of
upland barrancas began, suggesting various scenarios as possible
explanations: few new lands were brought into cultivation; pied-
mont lands were well-managed; or a large proportion of agricultural
production focused on the lakeshore plain and chinampas on the
lakebed at this time. Settlement pattern data (Sanders et al. 1979;
Sanders 1981: Figure 6.21) indicate a dense distribution of predom-
inantly small hamlets during the Early and Late Postclassic periods
in the piedmont, and if Frederick’s assessment is correct, suitable
slope management was apparently an integral part of agricultural
techniques during this period. The inherent low-resolution of
erosion sequences and associated radiocarbon dating, however, pre-
clude a definitive assessment at this time.
Cordova (1997) applied a similar geoarchaeological approach in
the Texcoco region of the eastern sector of the Basin of Mexico,
combining settlement history, and evidence from historical archives
for local land use with a study of geomorphological processes.
Cordova (1997) and Cordova and Parsons (1997) focused specifi-
cally on the issue of landscape transformation, particularly during
the Late Postclassic and Early Colonial periods. Both alluvial and
piedmont sequences in the northern sector of the Texcoco region
were studied, including part of the southern Teotihuacan Valley.
The alluvial sequence of the lower valleys of the San Juan,
Papalotla and Coatepec rivers revealed evidence for floods associat-
ed with the Classic and Early Postclassic periods, while pedestals in
the piedmont revealed considerable evidence for Late Aztec slope
management. At the site of TX-AZ-86, a barranca between the
Texcoco and Chapingo rivers showed evidence for incision (down-
cutting) prior to about 5000 BP and subsequent filling by a mudflow
containing ash particles. The timeframe suggests that this may be
related to the eruption of Popocatepetl, also responsible for the
PGF tephra. Additional mudflows were followed by incision, prob-
ably corresponding to the Classic-Epiclassic period, before Aztec
occupation when slopes were managed by metepantli (alternating
rows of maguey and cultivated strips) terracing to control erosion.
No historical record for site abandonment was located, but
Cordova argues that severe erosion in the area probably began
around the early sixteenth century; an early seventeenth century
382
document describes the area as pedregal (unworkable stone) rather
than tierra (cultivable land). Additional evidence for Colonial
period barranca incision is also provided by the history of collapse
and reconstruction of a bridge originally built during Late Aztec
times between the Chapingo and San Bernardino rivers, at
Huexotla (TX-AZ-87). The Texcoco River appears to have
changed course at least twice, and Cordova cites both alluvial and
topographic evidence to suggest that it was diverted to channel
floodwaters and alluvial materials away from the imperial capital
at the time of Nezahualcoyotl (ca. a.d. 1400–1470). The city of
Texcoco and surrounding plains were prone to flooding during
the early colonial period, as indicted by the deposition of silt cover-
ing Aztec structures. In the alluvial plains of the Texcoco region, it
is evident that areas where no surface remains were detected during
surveys coincide with recent flood-overbank deposition. Brickyard
exposures and the walls of incised streams revealed evidence for
pre-Columbian occupation below several meters of alluvium. The
Late Holocene time frame for these processes precluded the forma-
tion of well-developed soils.
Cordova and Parsons (1997) also examined in detail the se-
quence of erosion at the site designated as TX-AZ-78 in the area
of Huexotla, one of the few remaining vestiges of a Late Aztec
(a.d. 1350–1520) dispersed village, a common settlement type in
the piedmont at that time. Expansion of settlement in the area,
from the Middle Formative (ca. 850 b.c.) through the Terminal
Formative took the form of a gradual increase in the number of
sites occupying different ecological zones. Maximum population
was not attained, however, until the Late Aztec occupation.
During the Classic period (a.d. 150–600/650), a reduction in the
number of sites occurred, with a few hamlets situated in the lower
piedmont and no evidence of occupation in the volcanic hills or
upper piedmont. Population reached its lowest point during the
Epiclassic and Early Postclassic periods, a.d. 600/650–950, al-
though sizeable settlements persisted in the volcanic hills and pied-
mont to the north in Tepetlaoztoc and to the south near Coatepec,
possibly related to a territorial division between Tula and Cholula
(Cordova 1997). After a.d. 950, population began to recover and
a few hamlets appeared in the volcanic hills and lower piedmont, ad-
jacent to the alluvial plain. Population increase continued during the
subsequent Early Aztec phase (a.d. 1150–1350) and by the Late
Aztec phase a large number of dispersed villages were situated
throughout the upper and lower piedmont. After less than the first
century of the early colonial period, notable changes in size,
number and patterning of settlements resulted from drastic reduction
in the indigenous population as a consequence of disease together
with the depopulation of rural zones produced by congregación,
forced resettlement by the Spanish of remaining indigenous inhab-
itants of many rural areas into towns.
In the area of Tepetlaoztoc, in the upper piedmont, erosion is
strongly correlated with settlement history, particularly abandon-
ment. The alternation of tepetate (indurated pyroclastic deposits)
with unconsolidated ash deposits and paleosols (indicating general-
ized instability and severe erosion) is apparent during Early to
Middle Holocene times in this area. A subsequent period of land-
scape stability, however, is suggested by the development of two
soil horizons on colluvium overlying a white tepetate, the most
recent of the series, dated at Barranca Honda, to 5313 ± 51 14C
yrs BP (4320–3995 cal b.c., likely corresponding to the PGF
tephra; cf. Cordova and Parsons 1997:192), only to be interrupted
by Late Holocene erosion associated with Late Aztec-Colonial ce-
ramics. Techniques for improvement as well as reclamation of
McClung de Tapia
land, mainly Late Aztec, are evident in the remains of metepantli
terraces and check dams which permit soil buildup in barranca
courses. Early Classic to Early Postclassic ceramics associated
with one of the pedestals in the region suggests the existence of
a Classic-period settlement destroyed by erosion, prior to resettle-
ment during the Early Aztec phase. Remains of Late Aztec sites
are spatially associated with headwater rills and badland areas, indi-
cating a relationship with settlement abandonment following the ep-
idemics of the 1540s and the congregación policy undertaken
throughout the sixteenth century (Cordova 1997). Although settle-
ment nucleation took place on the alluvial plain and lower pied-
mont, terraces and check dams in the upper piedmont were
abandoned and gradually destroyed as a result of intense precipita-
tion events.
Historical documents refer to numerous episodes of intense
precipitation and consequent floods, particularly during the early
seventeenth century, which also provoked the destruction of pied-
mont lands and check dams. The most important factor in the se-
quence of erosive processes in the area is abandonment—the
decline of populations during the Classic period and during the
early years of the colonial occupation. Piedmont soils, particularly
those developing on tepetate substrates, required constant manage-
ment both to maintain suitable depth and fertility as well as to
control erosion.
Cordova (1997) also employed pollen analysis from the alluvial
sequence of Barranca Honda to understand vegetation disturbance
through time in the uplands as a result of agriculture and erosion.
Selected taxa excluded floodplain elements such as Taxodium
(cypress), Fraxinus (ash) and Salix (willow), focusing instead on
Pinus (pine), Quercus (oak), Juniperus ( juniper), Alnus (alder),
Mimosa (cat claw), Acacia, Zea (maize), Poaceae (grasses),
Asteraceae (sunflower family) and Chenopodium-Amaranthaceae
(goosefoot-amaranth). Based on the hypothesis that the modern
plant communities in the piedmont are secondary and successional
(Rzedowski 1977), it was assumed that the pollen spectra from more
recent deposits should indicate an increase in frequencies of juniper
and oak together with cultivated plants, associated weeds, scrub and
grasses. Although the pollen spectra indicate a transition from pre-
dominantly arboreal genera such as oak and juniper to herbaceous
genera in the piedmont, however, juniper itself appears to be rela-
tively stable throughout the sequence, indicating that it was not re-
sponding to human impact but rather that it was well-adapted to
changing conditions in the piedmont through time. Pine appears
only to have been a major component of regional vegetation
around the Terminal Formative, registering a significant decline
during the Classic-Early Postclassic periods as well as a further
decline during the Early Colonial period (Cordova 1997).
From the standpoint of vegetation change, Cordova’s pollen
analysis points to the predominance of mixed pine-oak forest
during the Early-Middle Holocene, severely damaged by the PGF
ashfall at the end of the Middle Holocene, and replaced by predom-
inantly pine forest by the end of the Formative period. The reduction
of pine as well as juniper associated with the Classic–Early
Postclassic period is undoubtedly related to more intensive exploita-
tion of pine and juniper for construction and fuel as well as the ex-
pansion of agricultural areas.
Cordova also considered the Terminal Formative site of El
Tepalcate, located north of the modern community of
Chimalhuacan, on the former bed of Lake Texcoco. This was pos-
sibly a salt-producing community, and a layer of vegetation used
to build up a stable surface for construction was radiocarbon
Basin of Mexico during the Holocene
dated to 2090 ± 35 14C yrs BP (202–2 cal b.c.) (Cordova 1997:
428). The site was abandoned around the first century a.d. and
the occupation was covered by a significant transgression of the
lake, lasting through the Classic and Early Postclassic periods,
and exposed again as the lake receded at the end of the Late
Toltec through the Late Aztec phases. Eolian deposits and beach
formations indicate that the area remained dry from Late Aztec
times through the Colonial period.
Late Holocene horizons in the Tepexpan sequence at the edge of
Lake Texcoco (Sedov et al. 2010; Solleiro-Rebolledo et al. 2006)
have recently permitted a clearer understanding of the natural
trend towards desiccation, as well as landscape development prior
to settlement of the region by permanent agriculturalists.
Excavation at Cuanalan, in the southern Teotihuacan Valley, provid-
ed substantial information with respect to environmental conditions
during the Early-Middle Formative period in that portion of the
Basin of Mexico (Manzanilla 1985), in addition to paleoethnobo-
tanical (Álvarez del Castillo 1984; Vélez Saldaña 2001) and
faunal remains, indicators of adaptation to the lakeshore as well as
agricultural resources.
Lake levels began to drop following the conquest, as described
in historical documents (Torquemada 1975 [1615]), although occa-
sional episodes of increased precipitation accounted for consider-
able rises (and consequent flooding, for example 1555,
1604–1629). Berres’s (2000) analysis of fish species and waterfowl
remains also support lower water levels in basin lakes at this time.
Reconstruction of the history of Late Postclassic and Early
Colonial period lake levels is further hindered by alterations result-
ing from the system of dikes and causeways initiated during the Late
Aztec period and the intentional drainage undertaken during the co-
lonial period. Furthermore, Cordova’s research at El Tepalcate con-
firmed the difficulty experienced by other paleoenvironmental
investigations carried out in the lakes of the Basin of Mexico as a
result of the slow rate of sedimentation and the rapid loss of sedi-
ment by deflation during periods of exposure. These processes
explain the significant hiatuses present in the lacustrine record and
the absence of a suitable paleoenvironmental record for the Late
Holocene mentioned in the syntheses of lake sediment studies.
They argue for the importance of developing appropriate techniques
for the recovery of data from the interface between lake and alluvial
environments.
Preliminary geoarchaeological research at Xaltocan, in the
northern basin, provides some paleoenvironmental information rel-
evant for the Late Holocene as well (Frederick et al. 2005). A
number of beach formations were described and tentatively placed
in a chronological sequence based on geological and archaeological
stratigraphy, although the independent dating of deposits necessary
to construct a meaningful sequence has not yet been undertaken.
Extensive beaches suggest that the lakes of the northern basin
were both persistent and stable.
Frederick et al. (2005) also partially studied a zone of chinampas
fed by a freshwater spring at Otzumbilla on the eastern shore of Lake
Xaltocan at the base of Cerro Chiconauhtla. Diatoms recovered from
lacustrine strata situated below a chinampa surface indicated a
shallow saline lake. The analysis of macro and microbotanical
remains from earlier stages of the research at Xaltocan also contrib-
utes to the understanding of local vegetation and available resources
from the Epiclassic period through the Late Postclassic. Maize was
the predominant component of the plant assemblage, although
remains of many wild taxa associated with saline conditions as
well as cultivated plots were also recovered (McClung de Tapia
383
and Martínez-Yrizar 2005). Evidence for intensive maize produc-
tion in chinampas (Morehart and Eisenberg 2009), irrigated with
freshwater transported from springs at some distance from the
plots is an important indicator of the scale of human modification
of the natural environment during the Middle Postclassic period in
the region.
Recent Directions in the Teotihuacan Valley
The Teotihuacan Valley area in the northeastern sector of the basin
is important because it was the location of Teotihuacan, one of the
earliest pre-Columbian cities in the New World and the center of a
state that dominated Mesoamerica over at least 500 years (a.d.
100–600). Archaeological research has been conducted in the
Teotihuacan Valley for over a century, including a detailed survey
of the history of settlement in the region (Sanders 1965, 1981;
Sanders et al. 1979) and the development of the map of the
Classic-period city (Millon 1970, 1973; Millon et al. 1973).
Paleoenvironmental research to establish a topographic sequence
of soils and sediments and to study macro- and micro-botanical
remains recovered from soils and archaeological contexts began ap-
proximately twenty years ago, although paleoethnobotanical studies
have been a fundamental part of archaeological research in the
region for more than three decades (McClung de Tapia 1977,
1978, 1980, 1987; McClung de Tapia and Tapia-Recillas 1993;
McClung de Tapia and Aguilar-Hernández 2001). Investigation
into the development of agricultural systems in the region has a
long history as well (Charlton 1990; Lorenzo 1968; McClung de
Tapia 2000; Nichols 1987; Nichols and Frederick 1993; Nichols
et al. 1991; Sanders 1965).
The recovery and identification of paleoethnobotanical remains
(macrobotanical specimens, including wood charcoal) from excava-
tions at the urban center of Teotihuacan, as well as some of the sites
elsewhere in the valley, is carried out routinely. The analysis of
wood charcoal recovered from archaeological contexts reveals the
presence of pine-oak forest throughout the regional sequence,
although some fluctuations in the relative proportions of taxa
are evident as well (Adriano-Morán 2000; Adriano-Morán and
McClung de Tapia 2008). The continual presence of secondary
taxa indicates management practices related to wood exploitation.
Both in archaeological contexts as well as in most of the soils and
sediments studied from the Teotihuacan region, however, pollen is
poorly preserved. Phytoliths, on the other hand are relatively well
represented and permit development of a general picture of
changes through time in the distributions of grasses associated
with cool-humid conditions (Pooideae, C3 cool season grasses)
and those adapted to semi-arid conditions (grass sub-families
Panicoideae and Cloridoideae—C4 warm season grasses).
Because of the importance of soils to prehistoric agricultural econ-
omies as well as a source of climatic information, field research
during the past fifteen years has been directed towards a detailed
study of soil formation and geomorphological processes in the
region (Cabadas-Baéz 2004; McClung de Tapia et al. 2003, 2004,
2005; Rivera-Úria et al. 2007; Sedov et al. 2010;
Solleiro-Rebolledo et al. 2006, 2011). The recovery and analysis
of phytoliths were included in order to detect the presence of pale-
osols, on the one hand, and the spatial variability of soils and region-
al vegetation trends on the other.
Early sedentary communities in the Teotihuacan region mainly
occupied the piedmont rather than the deep soil alluvium in the
central part of the valley where the risk of frosts was an important
384
limiting factor. The use of techniques for the conservation of soil
and humidity, such as channeling of runoff, was probably carried
out from an early period on slopes to enhance humidity concentra-
tions for rainfall dependent cultivars and to afford some kind of pro-
tection against soil gravity transport and gully and sheet erosion
during torrential seasonal showers as well as wind erosion in the
dry season. Evidence for such techniques is difficult to date,
mainly, however, because of the mixture of cultural and sedimentary
materials contained in channels. The earliest indications of such
techniques are dated to the Terminal Formative period (Tzacualli-
Miccaotli phases, approximately a.d. 100–250; Charlton 1990;
Nichols and Frederick 1993), associated with the development of
the urban center of Teotihuacan. The construction of terraces may
be as late as a.d. 1300–1500, corresponding to the Aztec occupation
of the region, although remains from this period would mask earlier
deposits.
The topographic sequence of soils in the Teotihuacan Valley
(Cabadas-Baéz 2004; Solleiro-Rebolledo et al. 2015) indicates
Pleistocene paleosols with ages of 22000 yrs BP and 18000 yrs
BP at high elevations (Cerro Gordo). In the piedmont of the
Patlachique Range, a paleosol with an age of approximately
11000 yrs BP was observed. Soils in the alluvial plain (Otumba
and Tepexpan) are more recent and are generally poorly developed.
On the edge of the former Lake Texcoco at Tepexpan, the sequence
includes a pedosediment developed in a swamp environment over-
lain by three paleosols (Sedov et al. 2010; Solleiro-Rebolledo et al.
2006). The sequence from approximately 5000 BP to the present is
the most complete as well as being the most relevant from the per-
spective of human occupation in the Teotihuacan region. Evidence
for soil formation varies depending upon location (McClung de
Tapia et al. 2003, 2005), but recent research in the region has detect-
ed a productive buried soil with vertic properties (originally men-
tioned by Charlton [1972] and recognized as well by Nichols
[1987]), broadly distributed and frequently overlain by several
meters of redeposited sediments, radiocarbon dated to between
and 2980 ± 40 14C yrs BP (1375–1055 cal b.c.) and 2060 ± 40
(187–25 cal a.d.) Rivera-Úria et al. 2007; Solleiro-Rebolledo
et al. 2011, Sánchez-Pérez et al. 2013). Sánchez-Pérez et al.
(2013) studied the regional distribution of this soil as well as its ag-
ricultural potential, while González-Árqueros et al. (2013) exam-
ined evidence for erosive processes and subsequent burial of the
soil. Pollen and phytoliths recovered from soil profiles in both inves-
tigations indicate pre-Columbian maize cultivation in addition to
other components of the local and regional flora (Sánchez-Pérez
et al. 2013; Martínez-Ríos 2014). Stable carbon isotope signatures
(δ13C) provide additional support for maize cultivation (McClung
de Tapia and Adriano-Morán 2012).
The ratios of grass phytoliths from the radiocarbon-dated hori-
zons of soil profiles in the Teotihuacan region indicate notable
changes over time in the predominance of grasses pertaining to
the subfamilies Pooideae (C3), Panicoideae and Chloridoideae
(C4) (McClung de Tapia et al. 2008), and these trends are reaffirmed
by an aridity index (Figure 3).
Phytolith evidence from horizons corresponding to 1500–1000
BP indicates relatively high humidity throughout the study region
during this interval. Some researchers have argued, however, for
notably drier conditions between ca. 1500 and 900 BP in the lake
basins of the Transvolcanic Belt that stretches across central
Mexico (Arnauld et al. 1994; Caballero-Miranda et al. 2001;
García 1974; Heine 2003; Metcalfe 1994; Metcalfe and O’Hara
1992; Metcalfe et al. 1989; Metclafe et al. 2000; O’Hara et al.
McClung de Tapia
Figure 3. Aridity index based on the proportion of phytoliths corre-
sponding to grasses of the Chloridoideae subfamily with respect to the
sum of Panicoideae and Chloridoideae, indicating overall trends in the
Teotihuacan Valley from 20,000 14C yrs BP to the present (McClung de
Tapia et al. 2008).
1993), while others suggest that conditions may have been more
humid in some parts of central Mexico during at least part of the
same period (Cordova 1997; Frederick 1997; Heine 1987). These
apparent discrepancies are likely due to the highly localized re-
sponses of different landscape components to the complex interrela-
tionships among elevation and topographic characteristics, local soil
conditions, land-use histories and other factors that affect the pres-
ervation of organic materials.
Much of the extensive erosion evident in the Teotihuacan Valley
took place during the Colonial period (McClung de Tapia 2012;
González Arquero 2013). Earlier erosive events, however, appear
to be associated with the abandonment of Teotihuacan and sur-
rounding population decline (McClung de Tapia 2005). While sed-
iments of approximately the same age were redeposited from higher
slopes onto the alluvial plain in both Otumba and Tlajinga, this may
represent separate events. In the absence of evidence for Late
Holocene volcanic activity directly affecting this region, it is possi-
ble that deforested slopes were subject to the effects of torrential
rainfall events that mobilized large masses of sediment and soil
from upper slopes (see Cordova 1997). The fact that Aztec-period
potsherds are present in the re-deposited sediments overlying
Middle-Late Postclassic agricultural surfaces in the Otumba area
suggests that most of the mass movement took place following
the Late Postclassic, during the Colonial period (McClung de
Tapia 2012; McClung de Tapia and Adriano-Morán 2012).
Additional evidence for incision in barrancas supports this hypoth-
esis (Pérez-Pérez 2003).
Chronological control is insufficient at present to permit a con-
clusive evaluation of specific changes in vegetation through time.
Further soil analyses and radiocarbon assays on more reliable
samples are necessary to provide a better understanding of geomor-
phic processes and human impact in the region (McClung de Tapia
Basin of Mexico during the Holocene
et al. 2003), and to situate this information within a chronological
framework that is meaningful from an archaeological perspective.
Finally, future analyses of phytoliths in securely dated cultural con-
texts will be fundamental in order to test the hypotheses presented
here.
Cordova’s (1997) study of the alluvial sequence of the lower
Teotihuacan Valley, including in the areas of Acolman and
Cuanalan, provide additional information with respect to the
erosion processes and, particularly, the history of floods in the
region. The hydrology of the Teotihuacan Valley was important
for the development of the margins of Lake Texcoco because it pro-
vided the main source of fresh water to the saline lake, and contrib-
uted to the maintenance of swampy conditions at the lake margin.
Episodic surficial flow caused by torrential summer rains could
be highly destructive but a considerable part of the water permeated
the lava substrate at higher elevations, emerging as springs at lower
elevations (Bradbury 1989). The construction of a dam close to the
convent at Acolman around 1604, ostensibly to control the entry of
floodwaters into Mexico City, resulted in the formation of a shallow
lake in the southern valley alluvial plain (Cordova 1997; Gamio
1922; Skopyk and Martínez-Yrizar 2015). Intense precipitation
during the eighteenth century led to overflowing of the canals that
directed runoff from the San Juan and San Lorenzo rivers in the
central Teotihuacan Valley and the rivers of the Texcoco plain,
breaching the dam and inundating the entire alluvial plain. Buried
Aztec and colonial structures have been located at depth of
3.5–4 m (Cabrera Castro 2005) in the southern part of the town of
San Juan Teotihuacán, suggesting the intensity of floods and asso-
ciated deposition of sediment.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN IMPACT IN THE
BASIN OF MEXICO
Research on paleoenvironmental change in the Basin of Mexico due
to climate change and human impact reveals a series of broad envi-
ronmental shifts during the Holocene. These changes often take the
form of erosion and sedimentation, re-sculpting the prehistoric land-
scape and providing different challenges to human residents of the
region.
The apparent discrepancy between Frederick’s (1997) interpreta-
tion of the timing of sedimentation and human population trends
during the pre-Columbian period and that which is postulated by
Cordova (1997) and McClung de Tapia et al. (2005) requires addi-
tional investigation, although this is likely related to issues of tem-
poral and spatial scale which arise as one attempts to correlate
evidence from the regions discussed. For example, some cores or
profiles have higher temporal resolution, whereas others have a
longer sequence but offer less detail. In some cases this may be
due to sampling strategies designed in response to specific research
questions or techniques appropriate to a particular discipline. Or it
may be the product of poor preservation or disturbance that has
altered the sedimentary record.
Over time, between the Terminal Pleistocene-Holocene and the
beginning of the Colonial period in the sixteenth century, the Basin
of Mexico bore witness to the presence of hunter-gatherer bands, the
disappearance of Pleistocene fauna, the transition to permanent
human settlements and, ultimately, the rise and fall of regional
centers of varying degrees of political and economic strength.
Although in different ways, the lakeshore, adjacent alluvial plains
and surrounding forests have always constituted important areas
for resource exploitation and settlement.
385
Throughout the pre-Columbian settlement of the Basin of
Mexico, communities undertook massive hydraulic works that sig-
nificantly impacted the landscape as well as the natural hydrology:
channeling of the San Juan River and, possibly, the San Lorenzo
River during the Classic period (Cowgill 2015), and re-routing the
Cuauhtitlan, Texcoco, and Amecameca rivers during the Late
Postclassic (Cordova 1997; Frederick 1997; Sanders et al. 1979).
In addition, the construction of dikes and causeways to control
water levels of Lake Texcoco, the aqueduct at Chapultepec, and
the Colonial dam at Acolman are only a few of the numerous
historical examples of infrastructure designed to tame the natural en-
vironment for the benefit of human communities. Complex agroeco-
logical systems, including permanent and seasonal irrigation
systems, terraces, and chinampas as well as rain-fed cultivation,
contributed as well to the creation of the man-made landscape.
Recent geoarchaeological research has broadened our under-
standing of how human communities modified the landscape and
altered biological communities through habitat alteration.
Paleoenvironmental studies, although providing a baseline for the
recognition of the relative importance of particular vegetation
types and their responses to climate change as well as human
impact, have not been particularly useful for the time period
during which human exploitation and modification of the environ-
ment has been most significant. Hopefully, future paleoenvironmen-
tal studies will consider more recent periods in greater detail,
thereby contributing to an understanding of how the landscape re-
sponds to human impact. Insofar as climate change is concerned,
the scale of investigation undertaken in the region so far is inadequate
to differentiate between local climatic fluctuations and human impact
on the one hand, and broader global trends on the other. For example,
recent publications by Acuña-Soto et al. (2005) and Lachniet et al.
(2012) are instructive. The former points to severe drought during
the late seventh century a.d. extending from the North American
Great Plains through Central America, which in conjunction with
an epidemic was believed to have contributed to the downfall of
Teotihuacan. The latter indicates significantly decreased humidity
in Juxtlahuaca Cave in Guerrero during the seventh and eighth centu-
ries a.d., arguing that such changes may have caused culture change
in Mexico including Teotihuacan’s demise. Without entering into a
detailed discussion, both hypotheses ignore recent archaeological ev-
idence, particularly indications that Teotihuacan was well on its way
to decline by a.d. 600 (Beramendi-Orosco et al. 2009, Cowgill 2015).
Furthermore, the lower limit of precipitation during the drought
period proposed by Lachniet et al. (2012), 500 mm, is the average
annual precipitation for most of the Teotihuacan Valley today, so it
is not unusual. Caballero et al. (2002) found evidence for similar
changes in the upper Lerma Basin, outside of the basin itself.
Evidence for drought during these centuries, and their impacts in
the Basin of Mexico requires continued research, therefore exploring
the potential role of drought, possibly linked to climate change, on
pre-Columbian cultures in the Basin of Mexico—including the col-
lapse of Teotihuacan—remains a priority.
Perhaps the most significant factor that should stimulate future
research is the potential contribution of archaeology to understand-
ing long-term human adaptation to the dynamic forces of climatic
and ecosystemic change —the longue duree — and the possibility
of learning from the past that such an approach entails. In addition
to expanding the coverage of paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeo-
logical studies significantly, future examinations of the prehistoric
Basin of Mexico environment would greatly benefit from the estab-
lishment of a radiocarbon database including dates from tephras and
386
soils, along the lines of that developed by Siebe (2000) for research
on the eruptive sequence of Xitle, and that developed by McClung
de Tapia et al. (2005) for the sequences of buried soils and geomor-
phological processes in the Teotihuacan Valley. It would be useful
to include profile descriptions and, in the case of tephras, geochem-
ical characterizations (cf. Ortega-Guerrero and Newton 1998) that
would permit periodic updating based on new developments in
the calibration curve, thus allowing archaeologists to recognize sig-
nificant tephras and, in the case of sediment mixing, evaluate their
composition with respect to established data. To augment improve-
ment of the geoarchaeological chronology, ceramic chronologies
RESUMEN
Este trabajo propone resumir y evaluar los conocimientos actuales respecto al
paleo-ambiente, desarrollo del paisaje y el impacto humano en la Cuenca de
México, con base en evidencias resultantes de la aplicación de diversas
técnicas y múltiples proxies. Aunque la evidencia arqueológica indica que
la actividad humana en la cuenca cobró importancia en la evolución de los
ecosistemas durante el Holoceno Medio-Tardío, los estudios paleo-
ambientales a partir de los sedimentos lacustres, generalicen los resultados
correspondientes al periodo en cuestión como “evidencia para el impacto
humano”. Por lo tanto, no han sido particularmente útiles para el periodo
de tiempo durante el cual la explotación y modificación humana del
paisaje ha sido mayor. Esencialmente las mismas comunidades vegetales
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial support for research carried out in the Teotihuacan Valley was pro-
vided by CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico),
DGAPA-PAPIIT (Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [UNAM]), the Instituto de
Investigaciones Antropológicas, UNAM and the Instituto de Geología,
UNAM. The analysis of paleoethnobotanical remains from Xaltocan was
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