Landschaftsumgestaltung als Folge von Besiedlung, Vegetationsänderung und Landnutzung durch die altindianische Bevölkerung im Staat Tlaxcala, Mexiko

Abstract

The relationship of the intensity of agricultural activities and the destruction of the soil by the Mesoamerican Indians throughout their different cultural epochs in Tlaxcala, will be analysed. The speed of the erosive processes induced and produced by the activity of maize cultivation is the topic which will be demonstrated through specific examples. The purpose is to show how the intervention of human activities in this environment, in this specific case the crop cultivation, speed up the morphodynamic process of soil erosion. The further development of agricultural activity and its institutionalization within a system of space and time was, on one hand, a basic element of advanced cultures and was also, on the other, the means of destroying their foundation of existence, that is, the productive soil. The actual situation of soil development, the distribution of its types, and the erosion of the volcanic ash soils is presented. The use of soils of the ancient Mesoamerican Indian cultures during the different cultural periods and their effect on soil erosion in pre-hispanic time is reported. Definite connexions can be shown between the development of the pre-hispanic population, the distribution of their setdement, and the different stages of erosion. A cosmically orientated settlement and field system laid out before the Conquista has not only influenced the landscape until today but has also left its marks in the development of the soils.