Ancestral Environmental Technology: Pre-hispanic Foundations for Regenerative Sustainability

Abstract

Purpose: This contribution has two objectives: 1) to define in context, how the word téchnē and technology are linked to the Nahuatl notion in context; and 2) to characterize pre-hispanic environmental technologies in order to subjectively and materially project the practical utility of ancestral environmental technologies, precisely because they are capable of halting and even reversing the socio-environmental consequences derived from the current climate and ecosystem crisis. Methodological design: From a historical-material perspective, an exploratory study of non-exhaustive and ontological-semantic nature is presented, whose strategy articulated and differentiated the Aristotelian etymon téchnē with the oldest one found in classical Nahuatl language. Previous criterion to characterize pre-Hispanic environmental technology and discuss its specific examples. Results: The way in which Mesoamerican technologies were organized and implemented demonstrates that they achieved what is currently sought through sustainabilty over 2,000 years ago. The concept and characteristics defining and differentiating pre-Hispanic Nahuatl technology from the current techno-scientific-industrial paradigm were provided. Toltecáyotl-amantecáyotl accounts for a productive and organizational system, sentient and alive, which guides the design of truly ecological new technologies. Among others, maize-milpa-chinampa technologies persist and are multidimensionally rewarding. Research limitations: Currently, the complete number of technologies developed, their typology, and their locations are unknown. In Mexico, the disintegration of rural areas is accompanied by a loss of language, knowledge, and objects, which raises the difficulty of accessing ancestral technical-scientific memory. Findings: Pre-hispanic technology is ecological, but not all current environmental and sustainable technologies are.