Land Reclamation and Soil 
Conservation in Indian America 
PEDRO ARMILLAS 
Instituto Indigenista Interamericano, Mexico 
Since I am an archaeologist who specialized in the study of pre- 
Columbian America, I want to bring to the attention of the 
specialists in other fields of knowledge a summary of data on the 
relationships between man and land in arid and semi-arid zones 
of America in the past. This summary will provide illustrative 
examples of the kind of information which archaeology can provide 
on this subject. 
The American Indians are classified, from the viewpoint of the 
relationships between man and natural resources, as follows: (a) 
pre-agriculturists, getting their livelihood by gathering of plants, 
hunting and fishing; (4) proto-agriculturists, farmers using the 
shifting-field system; and (c) intensive agriculturists. 
The pastoral way of life which depends on the raising of grazing 
animals and which might have notoriously harmful effects on soil 
conservation, was not found in pre-Columbian America. 
Although the activities of the human groups belonging to the 
first two categories may affect natural resources, their low density 
of population tends to make the damage done, if any, less serious 
than that resulting from the action of the large, concentrated 
populations of intensive agriculturists. 
Intensive Agriculture in Indian America 
At the time of Columbus the intensive agriculturists extended, 
although not in continuous distribution, from the American South- 
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