Houses and House Use of the Sierra Tarascans 



By Ralph L. Beals, Pedro Carrasco, and Thomas McCorkle 



INTRODUCTION 



The present paper is the ftrst substantial pubh- 

 cation resulting directly fiom the Progi-am of 

 Anthropological Investigations Among tlie Taras- 

 cans. The Program originated as a cooperative 

 imdertaking entered hito by the Esciiela Nacional 

 de Antropologia (formerly, Departameuto de An- 

 tropologia, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Bio- 

 Idgicas del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, now 

 part of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia 

 e Historia) , the Departamento Aut6nomo de Asun- 

 tos Indigenas, and the Univereity of California. 

 The program provided for the cooperation of other 

 interested institutions, and the collaboration of 

 the Institute of Social Antlu'opologj' is a logical 

 extension of the plan. 



The general features of this Program are set 

 forth in "The Tarascan Pi'oject: A Cooperative 

 Enterprise of the National Polyteclmic Institute, 

 Mexican Bureau of Indian AflFaiis, and the Uni- 

 versity of California," by Daniel F. Rubin de la 

 BorboUa and Ralph L. Beals (Amer. ^bitloop., 

 vol. 42, pp. 708-712, 1940). T^vo short papers 

 based on field research have aheady been pub- 

 hshed: "The Diet of a Tarascan Village," by 

 Ralph L. Beals and Evelyn Hatcher (Amer. 

 Indigena, vol. 3, pp. 295-304, 1943), and "Games 

 of the Mountain Tarascans" by Ralph L. Beals and 

 Pedro Carrasco (j\jner. Antha'op., vol. 46, pp. 51G- 

 522, 1944). Other papers are in preparation. 

 These include "Cheran: A Sierra Tarascan Vil- 

 lage," by Ralph L. Beals, which will appear as the 

 second paper in the publications of the Institute 

 of Social Antlu'opology. A number of other 

 papers have also appeared which contribute to 

 the objectives of the Pi'ogram but which are the 



result of work which was undertaken independ- 

 ently. These include: "Tzintzuntzan-Ihuatzio, 

 Temporadas I y II," by Daniel F. Rubin de la 

 Borbolla (Rev. Mex. de Estud. Antrop., vol. 3, 

 pp. 99-121, 1939), and "Exploraciones Arqueo- 

 I6gicas Realizadas en el Estado de Michoacan 

 Durante los Anos de 1937 y 1938," by Jorge R. 

 Acosta (Rev. Alex, de Estud. Antrop., vol. 4, pp. 

 85-98, 1940). 



The purpose of the Program is to provide a 

 coordinated and integrated plan of investigation 

 of the Tarascan Indians for the dual purpose of: 

 (1) Making a comprehensive scientific study of a 

 little-known major Mexican Indian group, and (2) 

 providing a body of fundamental data for the 

 administration of the Tarascan area. For both 

 purposes of the study, it is felt that certain non- 

 anthropological studies are essential. As the 

 Tarascans have been a farming and fishing people 

 into a remote past, and since Spanish times be- 

 gan have also been a woodworking and cattle- 

 raising people, a thorough understanding of the 

 envu-onment and its potentialities is essential, not 

 only in order to understand the past and present 

 cultiu-e of the Tarascans, but also to provide an 

 adecpiate basis for intelligent administration. To 

 this end, geographical, botanical, and zoological 

 studies are planned as well as a thorough soil 

 reconnaissazice followed by more detailed studies 

 of agricxdtural methods, problems, and potential- 

 ities, together with similar studies of forest, graz- 

 ing, and animal husbandry techniques. In a 

 similar fashion, understanding of the present 

 popidation requu'es the collaboration of medical 

 and public-health workers with the physical an- 



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