Cultural Stratification In Mexico

Intensification can be defined at the process of raising the productivity of agriculture per unit of land at the cost of more work at lower efficiency per unit of time. The intensification of agriculture is only productive because of the output that is created once the process is complete. It is a process that can support more people but only at the cost of making everyone work harder. In this case, the canal and chinampa system of the Aztec community in Mesoamerica made up specifically by the Tehuacan Valley and Valley of Mexico is a prime example of cultural intensification but also agricultural intensification. Why was agriculture so vital to living when hunting and gathering used to be enough? In big cities like Tenochtitlan, situated in the Valley of Mexico, the complexities of the culture are what drove for this mass system that took so many man hours. This city is known for having large apartment style

Richard MacNeish writes about his archeological sequence where 30 or so cities were dug in the Tehuacan Valley. Some of the sites were then expanded to show deep stratification with immense cultural relevance to the area. 140 stratified floors and occupational zones were found from these few sites. Because this part of Mexico receives so little rain, about two months out of the year, the preservation of the artifacts was incredibly intact. In 55 of the layers, there was a complete intact show of food remains, feces, and normally perishable human remains. The completeness of artifacts is great for being able to reconstruct life during the time of the stratified layer. The aspects of life that anthropologists are able to reconstruct and gain insights on include, “food habits, diet, climatic changes, and indicate which years the stratified floors were occupied,” (MacNeish 1964). The importance of this is being able to know which cultures existed at what