Ancient Mesoamerican Agriculture: Floating Gardens, Food and Drink of the Gods, and Cochineal Red

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1 Ancient Mesoamerican Agriculture: Floating Gardens, Food and Drink of the Gods, and Cochineal Red The region of the Americas known as Mesoamerica extends south and east from central Mexico to include parts of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It was inhabited by what we now know were advanced civilizations, including the Olmec, Maya, Toltecs, and Aztecs. The origins of American agriculture began here, during the same era in which ancient cultures in other parts of the world also began to domesticate plants for food, beginning around 10,000 years ago. Independent yet almost simultaneous locations for the domestication of several grass families occurred, including wheat in Mesopotamia, rice in Asia, and maize in Mesoamerica. The transition from wild food gathering to domestication begins with humans acting to increase the amount of any given plant food that they can access. This can be achieved by tending to a group of desirable wild plants weeding, keeping predators away, and harvesting limited amounts so that there will be reproduction. A symbiotic relationship can form between the plant and humans, advantageous to both. The result can be that a given plant cannot survive without human intervention. Following domestication, cultivation becomes necessary, such as soil preparation, planting of seeds or roots, fertilization, and irrigation. Desirable qualities are intentionally selected for, such as non-shattering seeds that are easier to harvest. (Fussell, 103) The staple food crops that were common to the earliest Mesoamerican groups, and that continued to be cultivated throughout their history, included maize, Zea mays; beans, Phaseolus spp.; squash, Cucurbita spp.; chiles, Capsicum spp.; tomatillos, Physalis spp.; tomatoes, Solanum spp.; Amaranthus, chia, Salvia hispanica; and Chenopodium spp. all seed agriculture plants. They

2 also intensively tended fruit trees including avocado, Persea americana; papaya, Carica papaya; and cacao, Theobroma cacao (for its seeds more than for its fruit). Other important plants used were the roots of manioc, Manihot esculenta and sweet potato, Ipomaea batatas. The root of Dahlia was a food crop long before it became a favorite European ornamental. Agave was consumed in several ways some parts were eaten, and the sap was made into syrup, wine, and vinegar. Another plant used for its fruit, greens, and juice was the prickly pear cactus, Opuntia other cacti were used also. The Aztecs, who became farmers of the great fresh and salt water lakes of the Valley of Mexico, processed and consumed lake algae, Spirulina geitleri. The tropics of Mesoamerica provided an abundance of other kinds of edible fruit, flowers, and herbs, some of the names of which we are probably not familiar with. Many herbs and flowers were used as flavorings, especially in the beverages that were made with the cacao bean (seed). One that is very well-known, and valued still today, is the orchid Vanilla planifolia. The herb that will smell and taste vaguely familiar to today s cilantro fanatics, Eyrngium foetidum, was mentioned by early writers as having been used to season mashed avocado. Tagetes spp., including one of our garden favorites, the licorice flavored Tagetes lucida, were used to flavor dishes as well. The only spice that was native to the Americas, which we call allspice, is the dried, full-grown but immature fruit of the tree, Pimenta dioica. Some plants that were cultivated for purposes other than food were cotton, Gossypium hirsutum, for fiber, and tobacco, Nicotiana rustica, for ceremonial purposes. The prickly pear cactus, or nopal, Opuntia ficus-indica, was grown intensively, so that one of the few animals domesticated, the cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus, could be harvested and used to make the brilliant red dye that we call cochineal red. Milpa is the term used for the earliest method of agriculture in the tropics of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. This was a slash-and-burn technique, in which an area was cleared and farmed for a few years; then they

3 moved on to another area. If allowed to lay fallow, the tropical climate would allow the jungle growth to quickly generate and renew the earth. (Fussell, 41) When the Spanish conquistadors first entered the Aztec capitol, the great city on the lake, Tenochtitlán, they were astounded and amazed. The floating gardens that they saw had been established in 1345 in the swampy lagoons of the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs were not the first to practice this method of agriculture; they had inherited the technique from the great civilizations that came before them, beginning as early as 300 B.C. Known as chinampas, these island gardens and the irrigated terraces on the hillsides surrounding the great lakes, provided enough produce to feed an urban population as large as any European city at that time in history. When the Aztecs, who called themselves the Mexica, first arrived in the area that they would develop into a great and powerful empire, they were a marauding band of wanderers with no other place to live. In the beginning, they subsisted on whatever could possibly be eaten from the lake. The chinampas were made by digging canals in the marshes, then piling layers of water plants and lake-bottom mud into mounds. The mounds were held in place with woven branches, and the edges planted in willow trees. The planting fields were as long as 300 by wide. A sophisticated series of dams, dikes, canals and aqueducts provided flood control, irrigation, and transportation. Crops could be grown year-round, as the fields did not need to lay fallow. The city streets even had roadside huts for the citizens to use for elimination; this was collected and used as fertilizer. They continuously refreshed the planting mounds with lake mud. The broad, raised stone dikes were wide causeways and served as highways and dams, forming reservoirs of fresh water. Three fourths of the population were farmers; they could produce enough to feed their families and for tribute to the royal elite by working 6 months out of the year. Thus, there was ample time for the arts, building projects, festivals and ceremonies, and rituals of war. (Fussell, 109) Annual tribute to the imperial granaries of the Aztecs was illustrated in The Florentine Codex, on thick maguey paper by native artists: 28 troxes 21 of

4 beans, 28 of chia seed, and 18 of a mixture of greens and grain amaranth. (Fussell, 110) The Codex Mendoza adds to this list 16 pots of agave syrup, 2,200 pots of bees honey, 1,600 bales of chiles, 160 loads of red cacao, 820 loads of common cacao, and 2,000 loaves of refined white salt. (Coe, S., 89) A troxe was a wicker storage bin coated with plaster; each one could hold 8,000 10,000 bushels. Each load of cacao beans contained 24,000 beans and weighed about 50 pounds. (Coe, S., 101) Maize, Zea mays, is an amazing plant! The first Europeans to study it as it grew were baffled to note that the seeds grow on a different part than the flower. They called it corn, their name for any grain. Linnaeus named it Zea, Greco-Latin for wheatlike grain and mays from the Taino of the West Indies, who called it mahiz, meaning life-giver. The primary staple food of the people, and of the gods, was maize. Wherever corn went, civilization followed. (Fussell, 41) According to the Popul Vuh, the sacred text of the early Maya, god made people out of maize dough. (Coe, S., 12) Maize was part of Mesoamerican religious rituals from birth to death. Evidence of household equipment used in the process of nixtamalization has been found in Guatemala dating to B.C. (Coe, S., 12) The maize is soaked and cooked in a solution of water and limestone or lye; the alkaline substance softens the kernel and alters its chemistry, so that the amino acids and B vitamins are more bioavailable to humans. (The lack of this knowledge later caused Europeans, and their immigrants to America, to suffer from malnutrition when maize became a staple food.) The original farmers also usually combined beans with maize in their diet. These two plants are complimentary proteins, and are more complete together than alone. Maize was made into breads cakes, tortillas, and tamales; forms we are familiar with. It was just as often combined with water and drank, or cooked into a type of gruel. Beans, squash, and chiles were eaten, along with the various forms of maize, at every meal. Several Phaseolus species were grown, each suited to a particular climate, including P. acutifolius, P.

5 coccineus, and P. vulgaris. The small black beans favored by the Aztec nobility were probably P. vulgaris. Most beans were used mature and dry. The Cucurbita species included C. pepo, C. mixta, and C. moschata. Squash seeds were the main part of that plant that were eaten toasted, ground, and added to most dishes; but flowers, shoot tips, and immature or ripe fruit were also used. Chiles were such an integral part of the diet that they were eaten with everything; to go without them was considered a penance. (The Capsicums should really be called the Fourth Sister.) Species that originated as wild in these regions included C. annuum, C. frutescens, and C. chinense. The Mexican highlands were a more suitable climate for the cultivation of the Physalis fruit, rather than the tomato, Solanum lycopersicon, which grew better in the tropical lowlands. The Spanish could more readily accept maize, a grain, that the other staple carbohydrate that they encountered, the root of manioc, Manihot esculenta. However, in the early days of conquest and exploration, the bread made from this plant sustained them, as it was made into a more palatable food for travel. The bitter manioc had to be processed in the manner that had been practiced for thousands of years, in order not to be a deadly poison. The cacao plant was most revered and so precious that the seeds were used as currency. Cacao pods, (the fruit) had religious symbolism and the plant was part of the creation mythologies. The process of turning the bitter seed of the fleshy sweet fruit had been practiced for thousands of years, first perfected by the Olmec and followed by the Maya. This plant could not be grown in the Mexican highlands and was a much-coveted trade item. The Aztec merchants were sent to the coastal, tropical areas where it was grown, to collect for the royal coffers. It was made into a beverage that was served to the royal king, and his elite court. The warriors of the military also were allowed the beverage; or the processed cacao was formed into cakes that they could travel with for rations. The merchant class was also allowed to consume cacao during their custom of holding lavish banquets to display how successful they were. Ground maize, along with several herbs for flavorings, were added to

6 the beverage; those most favored being vanilla and the ear-flower, Cymbopetalum penduliflorum. Both the Maya and the Aztec made many types of fermented beverages. The Aztecs had very strict rules about drunkenness; it was forbidden and severely punished. One rule was that a person must be beyond the age of 70, or have grandchildren, be allowed to imbibe. Much of the knowledge of these drinks was destroyed by Christian missionaries. Substances used included maize, agave and prickly pear juice, honey, pineapple, and the fleshy sweet pulp of the cacao fruit. The cochineal insect was directly related to Mesoamerican agriculture; as its host plant, the prickly pear cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, was one of the earliest plants to be domesticated. Plots of these cacti were propagated and carefully tended. The scale insect that lived exclusively on them was a distinct species, Dactylopius coccus, created by the human farmers. This species was larger and produced a more vivid red dye that its wild ancestor. The dye is due to the female insect s defense against predators, the chemical carminic acid. These insects required very specific climatic conditions, and the farmers went to great lengths to ensure their survival. This Opuntia also needed special care to be kept alive and healthy. The dye from the processed and dried insect was used by the Aztecs in cosmetics and medicine; as food coloring, textile and feather dye, and paint and ink for artists. After the conquest, it became the third most valuable export for the Spanish colony of New Spain, after gold and silver. It is hard to imagine sitting down to a meal without at least one, and preferably several, of the foods that come from the plants domesticated and cultivated by the ancient Americans. We owe them a great debt of gratitude, and much respect.

7 Bibliography Coe, Sophie D. America s First Cuisines. University of Texas Press,1994. Coe, Michael D., and Coe, Sophie D. The True History of Chocolate. Thames & Hudson, Ltd., Fussell, Betty. The Story of Corn. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Greenfield, Amy Butler. A Perfect Red. HarperCollins Publishers Inc., Humboldt, Alexander von. Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Volume III, Translated by John Black, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1814, London. ( Accessed 9/28/17 León-Portílla, Miguel. Bernardino de Sahagún, First Anthropologist. University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.

AMARANTH, CHIA, CHOCOLATE AND THE AZTEC. Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies Professional Development Workshop: September 7, 2017

AMARANTH, CHIA, CHOCOLATE AND THE AZTEC Vanderbilt Center for Latin American Studies Professional Development Workshop: September 7, 2017 THE AZTEC Teotihuacan: 200-700 CE (Classic Period), extensive trade