The Ethnoarchaeology of Salt Production in the Lake Cuitzeo Basin, Michoacán, México

Final Remarks

Many technological, ecological and cultural changes have taken place in the Lake Cuitzeo Basin since the Spanish conquest, and the present ethnoarchaeological study should be considered in the context of these historical changes for it to be of some use in the reconstruction of the cultural processes that took place in the area in ancient times (cf. Parsons 1989, 1994, 1996, 2001).

The study of present-day production of salt in the Lake Cuitzeo Basin has revealed that some methods and features still in use bear a striking resemblance to what was reported in the sixteenth century (Acuña 1987). The diagnostic features and artifacts discussed here ²  can be used to identify salt-making localities in the archaeological record, thus increasing our ability to detect this activity long after its final product, salt, has disintegrated forever.

Endnote

2. See Williams (2004) for a full discussion of the fieldwork conducted during 2003 and its findings.

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