ABSTRACT
Reprinted by permission from Irrigation Civilizations in Mesoamerica (Social Science Monograph 1, Pan American Union, Washington, D.C.), published by the Pan American Union and the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. Angel Palerm is Professor of Ethnology at the Escuela Nacional de Antropologia e História de Mexico, and Director of the Escuela de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales at the Universidad Iberoamerican, Mexico City. One of his principal research interests has been the ethnography and ethnohistory of urban civilizations in the New World. Among his books are The Tajin Totonac and La Agricultura y los Origenes de la Civilización en Mesoamerica.
