[Aztlan] Researching Totora Fabrication

Sat Feb 28 09:00:44 CST 2009

Hello Kathy

This is Mario, peruvian, Aztlan listero interested in american
archaeology, but not a professional arqueologist. I wish you a
very nice stay in Peru.

We have here a local archaeology list. I suggest you to write 
your request to:

Lista ARQUEOLOGIA  arqueologiadeperu at egrupos.net

***************************

Maybe have you heard about coastal Trujillo city 700 km north
of Lima, and its beach Huanchaco, and are not interested ? but
if not, I recommend you strongly to pay a visit.There, traditional
fishermen families cultivate totora generation after generation to 
use it to build their reed boats. 

I enclose a couple of papers on Totora

My best regards

Mario

**********************************************

SUNKEN FIELDS - A PRECOLUMBIAN FIELD SYSTEM STILL IN USE IN PERU 
Inge Schjellerup inge.schjellerup at natmus.dk 
The National Museum of Denmark 
www2.langkaer.dk/laerer/tj/vg3/marker/Mor%20pwp.ppt 

Introduction
Along 3000 km a barren desert is stretched along the Pacific Coast of South America from northern Peru into northern Chile interrupted by fertile flood plains carrying water from the Andean mountain range.

As rivers cross the desert and approach sea level, terrain adjacent to water courses and low-lying lands tends to have an increasingly higher water table.

The meteorological phenomenon known as El Niño, a warm sea current coming from the north towards the south temporary changes the water temperature in the ocean and causes heavy rain on the coast. The ecological balance is interrupted and the rich fish and bird life on the coast are threatened. 

It is an amazing thing to hear what they do in this valley. To provide the needed humidity, the Indians dig wide, deep holes in which they sow and plant the things I have described, and with the dew and dampness God makes them grow. Truly it is a remarkable thing never before seen that in a land where it never rains and the only water is light dew, (Cieza de León, 1557).

This early account from one of the most reliable Spanish chroniclers gives a very good description of the use of the sunken gardens near Chilca, south of Lima.

Access to water for cultivation and crops was always a critical factor along the rainless coast caused by the cold north running Humboldt Current.

Along the western coast of Peru sunken fields to the level of the ground water was an alternative cultivation method beyond the grand scale irrigation systems.

Mahamaes, hoyas, jahüeyes, pukios or huachaques are the names for these field systems.

Registration by the use of airphotographs

By analysing air photographs several of the original field systems been localised. Sunken fields are often placed along the foothills of the mountains from where the ground water runs slowly but fast enough so the problem of salinization do not affect the fields immediately.

However in these places the fields are exposed to climatic alterations and or sea level changes, which may bring intrusion of salt water into the ground water and these poorly drained soils are susceptible to salinization when irrigated. 

The locations today and before
Near the village of Chilca in south Peru sunken fields into a depth of 2-5 m and  5-10 m broad and 15 - 100 m long were still in use in the 1960s. The dug up soil were placed as dikes around the fields, which brought leeward for the winds. By placing the fields in this depth the ground water gave sufficient humidity to the cultivation of many earlier Indian crops as sweet potato, corn, beans, quinoa, chilli peppers and cotton. To day figs and dates are cultivated in the sunken fields in Chilca.

As a comparatively high level of ground water is needed it is on a limited scale where you may and could lay out mahamaes, and many of them were destroyed as time passed by an increased salinization.

Cabalitto
At Huanchaco, a fishing village, every family owns from 5- 8 sunken fields for the cultivation of totora reeds, which are used for the construction of their cabalittos (little horses), reed boats. Fishing is still carried out from these reed boats in a distance to several km from the seashore at the Pacific coast. It was the same principle, which Thor Heyerdahl used in the construction of his reed boats. 

Two possible planting methods
It would have been advantegous to furrow the soil surface so the sowing could take place in a low salinity environment while salt tends to build-up in the ridges or any areas of the field left at relatively higher and drier level. Another advantage would be that water could be led in from a surface canal, as and when required.

Surface irrigation water in the context of sunken gardens culture probably took place in some cases. Its use would have been most effective for: 1. to flush ourt accumulated salts; 2. to supplement the existing supply of nutrients and 3. to increase the supply of nutrients depending on the source of water (Smith 1979). 

Chan Chan 
Some of the largest building structures of adobe, sun dried mudbricks are found at Chan Chan, outside Trujillo, northern Peru. This was the capital of the Chimú culture (ca. 800 - 1470), and is the biggest mud brick city in the world. It has several palace enclosures with sunken fields inside and outside. Much of the building material probably came from the excavations of the sunken fields. Such fields extended inland at least 4 km . After flooding by El Niño events, the canal irrigation systems were disrupted and the sunken fields increased in numbers and in size. Authors believe that many of the sunken fields in Peru developed because of population growth under the Chimu dynasty around 1100 AD. As irrigated cultivation may have produced only one crop per year, the addition of sunken fields in use all the year round would have made a significant contribution to food supplies.

Early sunken field remains, located 4 km inland in the Moche Valley, are today 10-12 m above the ground water level, and not funcional. Some of the fields within Chan Chan are still in use but mainly by means of pump irrigation. 

Literature:
Cushing Falanow, Margie V. (1994), Food Production and Ecosystem Management on Yap. ISLA: A Jorurnal of Micronesien Studies, 2,1:5-22. 
Mørch, Henning (1989), Los Narvazos- skummede agre ved G uadalquevir.. Geografisk Tidsskrift , bd 89:81-82. 
Parsons, Jeffrey R. et n.P. Psuty (1975), Sunken Fields and Prehispanic Subsistence on the Peruvian Coast. American Antiquity 40(3):259-282.
Smith, Richard T. (1979) The development and Role of Sunken Fields Agriculture on the Peruvian Coast. The Geographical Journal 45:387-400.
Soldi, Ana Maria (1982) La agricultura tradicional en hoyas. Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. 

*************************************
http://www.springerlink.com/content/p6712x5447702tv3/

The Totora ( Scirpus Californicus ) in Ecuador and Peru 
Charles Heiser Department of Plant Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
Economic Botany. Editor Springer New York
ISSN0013-0001 (Print) 1874-9364 (Online)
Vol 32, Number 3 / july 1978 222-236
DOI10.1007/BF02864698

Summary  The totora (also known as matara and merme),Scirpus californicus, is widely used in Ecuador and Peru for a number of purposes. Floats made from it are still found at L.ake San Pablo and Yaguarcocha in Ecuador and at Huanchaco and L.ake Titicaca in Peru. Totora mats of highland Ecuador are woven, whereas woven mats are rare in Peru where twining seems to be the common method. Although commonly known by the Spanish name esteras, the mats are sometimes referred to as petates, a Mexican name, which may have reached the Andes in pre-Conquest times. Totoras are also used to make fans and baskets, and as food for both man and animals, the former only in the area of Lake Titicaca. The totora may have been cultivated in prehistoric times. The extensive altitudinal distribution and the apparent lack of seed set in some highland lakes suggest that man may be implicated in its spread. The totora is definitely known to be cultivated in both Peru and Ecuador in recent times. The totora comprises two subspecies: subsp.californicus found in the highlands of Ecuador and in both highland and coastal sites in Peru, and subsp.Tatora, confined to the highlands of Peru. There may be some justification for considering the two as distinct species. Chromosome counts ofn = 32 and 34 are reported for subsp.catifornicus andn = 35 for subsp.Tatora. Plants of both subspecies were found to grow well in the greenhouses at Indiana University. The totora of Easter Island, previously regarded as a variety of subsp.californicus, was found to be virtually identical to American populations of the subspecies. Although Heyerdahi has claimed that the totora was introduced into Easter Island by Peruvians in prehistoric times, it is pointed out that birds are equally, or more likely, responsible for its introduction there. 