The Technology of the Lacustrine Lifestyle in Michoacán: Change and Persistence through Time
The Tarascan Empire was one of the most complex social systems in ancient Mesoamerica. The territory under the dominion of the king or cazonci in the Protohistoric period (ca. AD 1450-1530) covered a wide area of western Mexico. Within this region lacustrine environments abounded, including Lake Patzcuaro, Michoacán, where the core Tarascan power was seated. The region's aquatic resources, exploited through fishing, hunting, gathering, and manufacturing, played a strategic role, as they were an indispensable complement to agriculture, as in other parts of Mesoamerica. Lacustrine, marsh, and riverine environments made possible a sedentary lifestyle and a high level of civilization, despite the fact that indigenous cultures lacked livestock for food and pack animals for the transportation of goods and people, unlike the situation in the Old World.
After the sixteenth-century Spanish conquest, major changes in Mesoamerican technology occurred. Nonetheless, subsistence activities related to aquatic environments maintained many features and processes that were reminiscent of the pre-Hispanic past. In this paper the technology of the lacustrine lifestyle in Michoacán is discussed, analyzing its change and persistence through the centuries.