Aquatic Adaptations in Mesoamerica: Subsistence Activities in Ethnoarchaeological Perspective

Aquatic Adaptations in Mesoamerica explores the subsistence strategies that ancient Mesoamericans implemented to survive and thrive in their environments. It discusses the natural settings, production sites, techniques, artifacts, cultural landscapes, traditional knowledge, and other features linked to human subsistence in aquatic environments. The study is based on analyses of fishing, hunting, gathering, and manufacture (among other activities), all of which were integral elements of aquatic lifeways. In addition to the aquatic lifeways themselves, salt-making, and intensive agriculture developed and practiced in lakes and marshes are also examined. The study adopts a perspective based on ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory, complemented by archaeological field data.