A reexamination of human-induced environmental change within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Michoacán, Mexico
- Christopher T. Fisher*,†,
- Helen P. Pollard‡,
- Isabel Israde-Alcántara§,
- Victor H. Garduño-Monroy§, and
- Subir K. Banerjee¶
- *Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242; ‡Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; §Instituto de Investigaciónes Metalúrgicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Edificìo U, Instituto de Investigaciónes Metalúrgicas, Ciudad Universitaria, A.P. 888, 58000 Morella, Michoacan, Mexico; and ¶Institute for Rock Magnetism and Department of Geology and Geophysics, 310 Pillsbury Drive Southeast, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Communicated by Joyce Marcus, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (received for review November 26, 2002)
Abstract
This paper presents 2,000 years of settlement and land use within the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Mexico. Three findings challenge the conclusions of previous research. We show (i) that initial land degradation was caused by settlement, not by agriculture; (ii) that population density inversely correlates with erosion; and (iii) that land degradation was associated with European Conquest but not from the introduction of the Euro-agro suite. Instead, demographic collapse caused by European-introduced disease prevented human-generated landscapes from being maintained, resulting in widespread degradation. These findings support the use of indigenous landscape technology for modern conservation if past failings can be resolved.
