ABSTRACT
This chapter examines aspects of tablon culture, which is primarily a fusion of two ecotypes: specialized horticulture and New World hydraulic agriculture. Microregional specialization is a prominent feature of tablon culture in the Atitlan area. Tablon culture is spatially contiguous with and/or culturally integrated into the area's long fallow systems, sectorial fallowing systems, and small-scaled dairying operations. Inner Guatemala is typified by the Indians and their dominant ecotypes: sectorial fallowing and tablon culture. The confusion and inability to see tablones as pre-Conquest artifacts arises from the implied assumption that the tools, plants, and techniques were largely imported from Spain. Tablon culture is complicated by the presence of other ecotypes in proximity: swidden, sectorial fallowing, dairying, and tropical commodity crop production. Tablon culture represents a highly evolved form of traditional intensive agriculture. The Ladino impress of much of tablon culture has obscured its probable pre-Conquest origins.
