title: Farming Systems and Political Growth in Ancient Oaxaca: Physiographic features and water-control techniques contributed to the rise of Zapotec Indian civilization.
abstract: The Valley of Oaxaca's large flat floor, high water table, low erosion rate, and frost-free floodplain give it a higher agricultural potential than that of most surrounding areas. The development of the pot-irrigation system early in the Formative period gave it a head start over other valleys, where the low water table did not permit such farming; Oaxaca maintained its advantage by assimilating canal irrigation, barbecho, infield-outfield systems, flood-water farming, and hillside terracing as these methods arose. With the expansion of population in the high-water-table zone of the high alluvium, competition for highly productive land and manipulation of surpluses may have led to initial disparities in wealth and status; competition probably increased when canal-irrigation systems were added during the Middle Formative, improving some localities to the point where one residental group owned land more valuable than that of its neighbors.
authors.forename: K V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Flannery
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kirkby
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kirkby
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Williams