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that the corn was not the first cultivated plants. One of the main sources of food was
the maguey. Proof of this are the remains of chewed maguey found in several of the
excavations carried out in The Valley. This food was first cooked which provided a
high sugar content (MacNeish 1967).
The towns that inhabited the region started to build works for water retention due
to aridity conditions, which led to develop technologies to settlements and the early
domestication of crops as a management system of water through canals, wells,
aqueducts, and dams, being the oldest system in the continent that allowed the emergence of agricultural settlements (CONANP-INAH 2016). Furthermore, the area is
one of the main diversification centers for the cacti family that are endangered all
around the world; it is the house of the densest columnar cacti forests in the world,
forming a unique landscape that it also includes agaves, yuccas, and oaks (CONANPINAH 2016). It has been documented that in the transition from nomadic to sedentary, one of the archaeological surprises was that the corn was not the first cultivated
plants. One of the main sources of food was the maguey. Proof of this are the
remains of chewed maguey found in several of the excavations carried out in The
Valley. This food was first cooked which provided a high sugar content (MacNeish
1967).
To mention some examples of the use of biodiversity, succulents have been
recorded in the area as the largest all around the world, whose fruits have been used
as food and the intensive management of some species has generated a targeted
selection to its domestication. The magueyes are another plant widely used since the
beginning as a source of fiber and food. Recently, ecological, floral, and linguistic
evidence was gathered that pointed The Valley as a domestication site for pepper
and it is possibly where it was named as chilli (INAH 2019). All this evidence has
been located throughout the BR, thanks to the intervention of diverse disciplines
that have been given the duty to gather information and evidences, in particular by
studies from archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, biologists, engineers, etc.,
at least since 1940. The knowledge of the domestication techniques, use and exploitation of the biodiversity, and the development of technologies for water management, pottery, salt production, among others allows to build the past that reflects the
changes that have taken place in the area, both anthropogenic and environmental,
without excluding the climate change.
Mixed Property Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley: Original Habitat
of Mesoamerica
After a research process involving social and natural disciplines, in July 2018 the
World Heritage Committee recognized Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley as a Mixed
Property on the World Heritage List (WHC 2018). Among the criteria considered
for the designation of outstanding universal value (CONANP-INAH 2016), include:
• Criterion (iv): be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, or
technological ensemble of landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in
L. Vera and S. García
that the corn was not the first cultivated plants. One of the main sources of food was
the maguey. Proof of this are the remains of chewed maguey found in several of the
excavations carried out in The Valley. This food was first cooked which provided a
high sugar content (MacNeish 1967).
The towns that inhabited the region started to build works for water retention due
to aridity conditions, which led to develop technologies to settlements and the early
domestication of crops as a management system of water through canals, wells,
aqueducts, and dams, being the oldest system in the continent that allowed the emergence of agricultural settlements (CONANP-INAH 2016). Furthermore, the area is
one of the main diversification centers for the cacti family that are endangered all
around the world; it is the house of the densest columnar cacti forests in the world,
forming a unique landscape that it also includes agaves, yuccas, and oaks (CONANPINAH 2016). It has been documented that in the transition from nomadic to sedentary, one of the archaeological surprises was that the corn was not the first cultivated
plants. One of the main sources of food was the maguey. Proof of this are the
remains of chewed maguey found in several of the excavations carried out in The
Valley. This food was first cooked which provided a high sugar content (MacNeish
1967).
To mention some examples of the use of biodiversity, succulents have been
recorded in the area as the largest all around the world, whose fruits have been used
as food and the intensive management of some species has generated a targeted
selection to its domestication. The magueyes are another plant widely used since the
beginning as a source of fiber and food. Recently, ecological, floral, and linguistic
evidence was gathered that pointed The Valley as a domestication site for pepper
and it is possibly where it was named as chilli (INAH 2019). All this evidence has
been located throughout the BR, thanks to the intervention of diverse disciplines
that have been given the duty to gather information and evidences, in particular by
studies from archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, biologists, engineers, etc.,
at least since 1940. The knowledge of the domestication techniques, use and exploitation of the biodiversity, and the development of technologies for water management, pottery, salt production, among others allows to build the past that reflects the
changes that have taken place in the area, both anthropogenic and environmental,
without excluding the climate change.
Mixed Property Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley: Original Habitat
of Mesoamerica
After a research process involving social and natural disciplines, in July 2018 the
World Heritage Committee recognized Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley as a Mixed
Property on the World Heritage List (WHC 2018). Among the criteria considered
for the designation of outstanding universal value (CONANP-INAH 2016), include:
• Criterion (iv): be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, or
technological ensemble of landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in
L. Vera and S. García