The excavation pit of the Aztec dwellingImage credit: INAH
Posted on 05/09/2022 10:14:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a dwelling that was built up to 800 years ago during the Aztec Empire in the Centro neighborhood of Mexico City, Mexico, during works to modernize the area.
The centuries-old abode was discovered by archaeologists and construction workers ahead of an initiative to update electrical power substations.
The dwelling is believed to date from the late Postclassic period (A.D. 1200 to 1521) and would have been located on the border of two neighborhoods in the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, according to a statement from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). It spans over 4,300 square feet (400 square meters), or about half the size of a baseball diamond.
During the late Postclassic, the area that is now being excavated was a residential and agricultural center, and archaeologists at the site also found the remains of channels and a jetty (a platform where boats stop to load or unload) used in the Aztec chinampa method of farming. The chinampa technique involved growing crops on small areas of artificial land (sometimes referred to as floating gardens) on shallow lake beds.
Archaeologists found more Aztec artifacts in the residential area of the excavations. Under the Aztec building's thick adobe floors, the excavation team found a pair of funerary vessels that contain the bone remains of infants, as well as several burials associated with an offering of censers (vessels in which incense is burned), whorls (a spinning machine or spindle) and spinning tools.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
National Park Service Hydroponics
Picture of raft system of growing from:
I prefer to grow in dirt myself.
Spinning thread and weaving cloth absorbed a large part of a woman's life in pre-industrial times. We live in a time of manufactured textiles, a luxury.
Building rafts for residential use was common in the culture, and the gardening was done on the same raft. It's an interesting idea. More secure for its time, as well.
night soil
In the 1930s-50s, a French Canadian Indian named Joe squatted on an island on a small lake in Maine where my family has a summer camp. He built up the island by hauling dirt and rocks over the ice that would settle on the shore in the spring. (He also ran a moonshine operations — my cousin found it while scuba diving off the island.)
My mother likes to talk about how his vegetable garden was lush and productive — and about the standing family rule, “Never eat Joe’s tomatoes”.
And Tamara with a wine glass!
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