The Last Pescadores of Chimalhuacán, Mexico: An Archaeological Ethnography (review)

For many familiar with Parsons’ renowned archaeological surveys and analyses of the pre-Hispanic civilization in the Basin of Mexico, this venture into ethnography may come as a surprise. It is not, however, simply an ethnography of a single place or activity as the title implies. Rather, Parsons describes the activities of the few remaining pescadores of Chimalhuacán —who are not simply, or even primarily, engaged in fishing. Instead, they are hunters and collectors of a wide variety of waterfowl, aquatic insects, vegetation, and other wetland resources—to inform broader questions of non-agricultural subsistence by people exploiting the remarkable resources of lake margins, and as the basis for consideration of, and then search for, the archaeological signature of such activities.

Thus, The Last Pescadores follows up on previous assertions by several Mesoamericanist scholars that wetland resources played critical, but underappreciated subsistence roles in the Basin of Mexico and elsewhere. Parsons own experience in the region and familiarity with the numerous lakebed and wetland margin archaeological sites throughout the area adds a strong sense from the outset that what he will report from Chimalhuacán on the shore of Lake Texcoco, east of Mexico City, will be of much broader significance. Further, Parsons situates this discussion within the search for a good explanation for where people without livestock were able to obtain sufficient protein to maintain large and dense populations.

Following the introductory chapter where these themes are laid out, Parsons reviews the paleoecological and historical evidence of ecological conditions in the Basin of Mexico, and the significant changes that have occurred, prior to and during human occupance. His purpose is simply to firmly establish the ecological setting for the activities discussed in the remainder of the book. However, the depth of the ecological history it summarizes serves also as a welcome example of how much better most scholars could do at researching, understanding, and presenting the regions in which their studies take place.

The third chapter reviews the ethnohistoric and historical accounts of aquatic resource use in the Basin of Mexico. Organized roughly chronologically, and by type of resource mentioned, fairly long passages from many sources are quoted both in Spanish and in translation, and summarized in detailed tables. Even readers already familiar with many of the sources will be surprised by the numerous references to collection and consumption of several aquatic insects and other species during late-Aztec, and Colonial periods. This review of historic references is followed by a chapter detailing more recent scientific reports and identification of insects, amphibians, waterfowl, algae and other aquatic plants in the region.

In the fifth chapter Parsons reports his own 1992 observations of net preparation, aquatic insect collection, management of insect egg laying and subsequent harvest and sale of the eggs, shallow water fishing, and waterfowl netting at Chimalhuacán, Each activity is illustrated with numerous, well-reproduced, black and white photographs and detailed captions.

Some of this harvest is consumed by the pescadores and their families, but the majority is sold as birdfeed in Mexico City. The fact that only a few Chimalhuacán residents are still engaging in these activities is noted, but based on his earlier paleoecological review, Parsons can point out that all of these activities would have been more easily and productively pursued before the dramatic hydrologic alterations of the valley floor.

Rather than return immediately to the question of the significance of such wetland utilization in the Basin of Mexico, however, the next chapter pursues over 100 pages of comparative perspectives from other wetlands—some quite similar, others different—around the world. From ethnographic and historical sources Parsons extracts numerous reports of insect collection, fishing in numerous ways, waterfowl hunting and egg collection, use of aquatic vegetation for food, house and boat construction, basketry, and other uses from lacustrine and...