Hacienda Tabi - Plantation Archaeology Mexico

Hacienda Tabi - Plantation Archaeology Mexico Hacienda Tabi is a landed estate of colonial origin, located in the Puuc region of the Yucatn Peninsula of Mexico, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Merida, and 20 km (12.5 mi) east of Kabah. Established as a cattle ranch by 1733, it evolved into a sugar plantation that encompassed more than 35,000 acres by the end of the 19th century. Approximately one-tenth of the old plantation now lies within a state-owned ecological reserve. Hacienda Tabi was one of several plantations that were owned by descendants of early Spanish colonists, and, like plantations of the same period in the United States, survived on the basis of near-slavery of native and immigrant laborers. Originally established in the early 18th century as a cattle station or estancia, by 1784 the propertys production had diversified enough to be deemed a hacienda. Production on the hacienda eventually included a sugar mill in a distillery for producing rum, farm fields for cotton, sugar, henequen, tobacco, maize, and domesticated pigs, cattle, chickens, and turkeys; all of this continued until the Mexican Revolution of 1914–15 abruptly ended the peonage system in Yucatn. Timeline of Hacienda Tabi 1500s - much of the Puuc region is part of the Xiu Maya dynasty1531 - Spanish military forces marched into the Yucatn1542 - city of Merida founded by Francisco de Montejo1547 - first Spanish mission founded at Oxkutzcab1550s - encomienda system established in the Puuc1698 - Juan del Castillo y Arrue petitions for a land grant named Tavi to be used as an encomienda1733 - Tabi established as the name of the parcel in the Santa Elena Valley1784 - Tabi designated a hacienda; its owner is Bernadino Del Castillo1815 - Tabi purchased by Francisco Calero y Calero; a land survey commissioned1821 - Mexico achieves independence from Spain1820s - first state laws supporting peonage (debt slavery) system1847 - Caste War (Resistance movement between Maya and Spanish descendants) breaks out1855 - Tabi bought by Felipe Peon1876 - 1911, Porfirio Diaz rules Mexico1880s - narrow gauge rail established in the Yucatn1890s - industrial sugar mill at Tabi1893 - Tabi bought by Eulogio Duarte Troncoso; exten sive renovation of principal buildings undertaken 1900 - Tabi encompasses 35,000 acres and 851 resident laborers1908 - Journalist John Kenneth Turner publishes articles describing slavery on haciendas in Yucatn.1913 - Tabi owned by Eduardo Bolio Rendon Maldonado1914 - Mexican revolution reaches Yucatn, peonage system abolished1915 - Hacienda Tabis village for laborers abandoned The center of the plantation included an area of approximately 300 x 375 m (1000x1200 ft) within a thick wall enclosure of limestone masonry, measuring 2 m (6 ft) high. Three main gates controlled access to the great yard or patio principal, and the largest and main entry frames the sanctuary, which held room for 500 persons. The major architecture within the enclosure included a large two-story plantation house or palacio, consisting of 24 rooms and 22,000 ft ² (~2000 m ²). The house, recently refurbished with long-range plans for the development of a museum, boasts classic architecture, including a double colonnade on the south face and neoclassical pediments on the upper and lower levels. Also within the enclosure was a sugar mill with three chimney stacks, livestock stables, and a sanctuary based on colonial Franciscan monastery architecture. A handful of traditional Maya residences are also located within the enclosure wall apparently reserved for upper-level servants. two small rooms in the lower West and the plantation house were set aside for jailing peasants who disobeyed orders. A small external structure, called the burro building, was, according to oral tradition, used for public punishment. Life as a Laborer Outside the walls was a small village where as many as 700 laborers (peons) lived. Laborers lived in traditional Maya houses consisting of one-room elliptical structures made of masonry, rubble stone, and/or perishable materials. The houses were placed in a regular grid pattern with six or seven houses sharing a residential block, and blocks aligned along straight streets and avenues. The interiors of each of the houses were split into two halves by a mat or screen. One-half was the cooking area including a hearth kitchen and foodstuffs in the second half with the storage bathing area where clothing, machetes, and other personal goods were kept. Hanging from the rafters were hammocks, used for sleeping. Archaeological investigations identified a definite class division within the community outside of the walls. Some of the workers lived in masonry houses that appear to have had preferential placement within the village settlement. These laborers had access to better grades of meat, as well as imported and exotic dry goods. Excavations of a small house inside the enclosure indicated similar access to luxury goods, albeit clearly still occupied by a servant and his family. Historical documentation indicates that life on the plantation for the workers was one of ongoing indebtedness, built into the system, essentially making slaves of the workers. Hacienda Tabi and Archaeology Hacienda Tabi was investigated between 1996 and 2010, under the auspices of the Yucatn Cultural Foundation, the State of Yucatns Secretary of Ecology, and Mexicos National Institute of Anthropology and History. The first four years of the archaeological project were directed by David Carlson of Texas AM University and his graduate students, Allan Meyers and Sam R. Sweitz. The last eleven years of field investigation and excavation were conducted under the direction of Meyers, now at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sources Thanks are due to excavator Allan Meyers, author of Outside the Hacienda Walls: The Archaeology of Plantation Peonage in 19th Century Yucatn, for his assistance with this article, and the accompanying photo. Alston LJ, Mattiace S, and Nonnenmacher T. 2009. Coercion, Culture, and Contracts: Labor and Debt on Henequen Haciendas in Yucatn, Mexico, 1870–1915. The Journal of Economic History 69(01):104-137.Juli H. 2003. Perspectives on Mexican hacienda archaeology. The SAA Archaeological Record 3(4):23-24, 44.Meyers AD. 2012. Outside the Hacienda Walls: The Archaeology of Plantation Peonage in 19th Century Yucatn. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. see the reviewMeyers AD. 2005. Lost hacienda: Scholars reconstruct the lives of laborers on a Yucatn plantation. Archaeology 58(One):42-45.Meyers AD. 2005. Material expressions of social inequality at a porfirian sugar hacienda in Yucatn, Mexico. Historical Archaeology 39(4):112-137.Meyers AD. 2005. The challenge and promise of hacienda archaeology in Yucatan. The SAA Archaeological Record 4(1):20-23.Meyers AD, and Carlson DL. 2002. Peonage, power relations, and the built environment at Hacienda Tabi, Yucatn, Mexico. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 6(4):371-388. Meyers AD, Harvey AS, and Levithol SA. 2008. House lot refuse disposal and geochemistry at a late 19th-century Hacienda village in Yucatn, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 33(4):371-388.Palka J. 2009. Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica. Journal of Archaeological Research 17(4):297-346.Sweitz SR. 2005. On the periphery of the periphery: household archaeology at Hacienda Tabi, Yucatn, Mexico. College Station: Texas AM.Sweitz SR. 2012. On the Periphery of the Periphery: Household Archaeology at Hacienda San Juan Bautista Tabi, Yucatn, Mexico. New York: Springer.