Water Folk: Reconstructing An Ancient Aquatic Lifeway In Michoacan, Western Mexico (Bar International)

This study of subsistence activities (fishing, hunting, gathering, and manufacture) in the Cuitzeo and PAtzcuaro lake basins (MichoacAn, Western Mexico) underscores the value of ethnoarchaeology as a tool for reconstructing the ancient aquatic lifeway in the territory of the Protohistoric Tarascan state (ca. AD 1450-1530), which flourished in an environment dominated by lakes, rivers, swamps and marshes. Mesoamerica was the only civilization in the ancient world that lacked major domesticated sources of animal protein; therefore, abundant wild aquatic species (fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and plants, etc.) all played strategic roles in the diet and economy of most Mesoamerican cultures, including the Tarascans.

• • Author: Eduardo Williams
• • Publisher: British Archaeological Reports
• • Publication Date: Apr 25, 2014
• • Number of Pages: 118 pages
• • Language: English
• • Binding: Paperback
• • ISBN-10: 1407312529
• • ISBN-13: 9781407312521