ABSTRACT
The most prominent agricultural implement used by tablon farmers is the azadon, a broad hoe common to the Mesoamerican tropics. The palito is also used to perforate the tablon top for injection of chemical fertilizers the soil surface. Additional uses include punching holes for planting sweet potato cuttings in tablon sides and for aerating tablon tops for better drainage. The starts used in transplanting onions, beets, cabbage, are carried from the seed beds to the tablones in the basins. An absence of pre-Columbian hoes in the archeological record should not deny the possibility of pre-Conquest tablon agriculture. Chickens are raised for direct consumption, for marketing, for ceremonial purposes, and for agricultural applications. Metallurgy was known and used by many pre-Columbian populations for agricultural implements. If tablones are pre-Columbian, then an implement closely resembling the modern azadon must have been used.
