Sept. 14th, 2010
Bill Werner
Report on Summer 2010 PLACA-funded Research
My Summer 2010 PLACA travel grant helped support two weeks of archival work in Mexico
City followed by two weeks of preliminary field work in El Mirador, Veracruz. The goals for
the summer were to continue establishing the historical context of my research site, the
nineteenth century sugarcane and coffee enterprise known as Hacienda El Mirador. This
hacienda originated as a German colonization project in the 1830s and 1840s, but most of these
colonists had abandoned the agricultural enterprise by 1850. While the hacienda nevertheless
continued to flourish and has been studied by previous scholars, the original German colony has
yet to be investigated. I was successful in completing the necessary archival work to establish
specific research questions for my investigation, and the pilot mapping project established
sufficient basis for developing a methodology for archaeological research at the site. I am now
in an excellent position to write a successful dissertation proposal and to apply for grants from
major funding sources.
The bulk of archival work in Mexico City took place at the Archivo General de la Nación
(AGN), complemented with brief visits to the archive of the Registro Agrario Nacional (RAN)
and the Mapoteca Manuel Orozco y Berra (MMOYB). At the AGN I examined the passport
records of German emigrants who arrived in Mexico to settle at the German colony at El
Mirador. My research has shown that there were several dozen adult male Germans present at
the colony throughout the 1830s and 1840s. Documents from the AGN provide the ages,
occupations, physical descriptions, and cities of origin for many of them. Less is known about
the women and children who were present, but there were at least several nuclear families at the
colony.
Although I had previously been concerned that the German colony was too short-lived and
ephemeral to warrant a search for its archaeological remains, the archival documents have
convinced me otherwise. In particular, I hope to address the nature of the interactions between
the German colonists and the local indigenous population. This will be accomplished by an
investigation of ceramic artifacts from the site. These archaeologically-abundant materials
provide clues regarding the nature of the economic pursuits of the German colony, and will allow
me to address questions such as: Did the settlers trade with local Indians to acquire the ceramic
vessels they needed to store, prepare, and consume their daily food, or did they manufacture
them themselves according to German pottery traditions? Were Indian artisans in neighboring
villages commissioned to produce the bricks, tiles, and large ceramic vessels needed for the
sugar cane processing infrastructure, or were they recruited for full-time ceramic production at
the colony under the supervision of the Germans?
The first stage in developing an archaeological research methodology, however, is to establish a
probabilistic sampling strategy for the systematic collection of artifacts. Therefore, additional
goals of this summer's research were to design a survey strategy and to search for historical maps
of El Mirador that might guide archaeological investigations. The MMOYB is the preeminent
receptacle for historic maps in Mexico, and indeed I was able to locate several regional maps
produced during the mid-19th century. While these are interesting in themselves and could be
included as figures in my future publications, they are at too small of a scale to be of immediate
use to my project goals. I was able to locate more detailed, large-scale maps of the immediate
vicinity of El Mirador at the RAN, but these maps date to the early 20th century and are not
Bill Werner
Sept. 14th, 2010
sufficient to understand the spatial layout of the original German colony in the mid-1800s. This
reinforces the need to carry out surveys before developing an excavation strategy.
My brief survey work focused on measuring and recording the extant architecture from the core
areas of the hacienda, which seem to have been built atop the original German settlement. With
the assistance of a colleague, who also supplied a digital theodolite, I mapped the large, central
residence that was constructed in the 1840s as well as its numerous outbuildings. During this
mapping, I noticed ground features that seem to indicate a patio that has long fallen out of disuse
(the unnaturally flat area is now covered with soil and used to cultivate palms and bamboo).
Future archaeological testing will seek to establish the function of this patio and its approximate
date of construction, which will also provide a terminus ante quem for any artifacts found
beneath it (i.e. if the patio was built in the 1840s, I can establish that artifacts beneath it could
only have pertained to the Germans who resided there in the 1830s and 1840s). The second
week of survey examined the architectural remains of the sugar cane processing facilities, also
constructed during the 1840s. In addition to three large standing structures, I discovered and
mapped the foundations of numerous smaller structures. While working in this area, I also
noticed an abundance of ceramic and glass artifacts that had been churned up due to modern
coffee-planting activities. Thus, my future fieldwork methodology will include a systematic
collection of artifacts on the surface in addition to the excavation of structural foundations.
In sum, my 4-week trip supplied a wealth of research material, including historical documents,
maps, and original survey data. I have established that an archaeological investigation of the
early German colony at El Mirador and its socioeconomic relationship with the locals is both
feasible and necessary for the further understanding of this interesting episode of Mexico's postcolonial history. As I move forward with additional grant proposals, I thank PLACA’s support
for these crucial steps that have greatly facilitated the development of a viable dissertation
project.