Archaeologists discover salt workers' residences at underwater Maya site
Date:
November 19, 2021
Source:
Louisiana State University
Summary:
Maya archaeologists have excavated salt kitchens where brine
was boiled in clay pots over fires in pole and thatch buildings
preserved in oxygen- free sediment below the sea floor in
Belize. But where these salt workers lived has been elusive,
leaving possible interpretations of daily or seasonal workers from
the coast or even inland. This gap left nagging questions about
the organization of production and distribution.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The ancient Maya had stone temples and palaces in the rainforest of
Central America, along with dynastic records of royal leaders carved
in stone, but they lacked a basic commodity essential to daily life:
salt. The sources of salt are mainly along the coast, including salt flats
on the Yucatan coast and brine- boiling along the coast of Belize, where
it rains a lot. But how did the inland Maya maintain a supply of salt?
==========================================================================
LSU Maya archaeologist Heather McKillop and her team have excavated
salt kitchens where brine was boiled in clay pots over fires in pole
and thatch buildings preserved in oxygen-free sediment below the sea
floor in Belize. But where these salt workers lived has been elusive,
leaving possible interpretations of daily or seasonal workers from the
coast or even inland.
This gap left nagging questions about the organization of production
and distribution.
New findings on the organization of the salt industry to supply this basic dietary commodity to inland cities during the Classic Maya civilization
are reported in a recent article by McKillop and LSU alumna Cory Sills,
who is an associate professor at University Texas-Tyler. The article "Briquetage and brine: Living and Working at the Ek Way Nal Salt Works,
Belize" was published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica.
McKillop and Sills began this new project in search of residences where
the salt workers lived and to understand the energetics of production
of salt with funding from the National Science Foundation. Although
field work at Ek Way Nal, where the Paynes Creek Saltworks is located,
has been postponed since March 2020 due to the pandemic, the researchers
turned to material previously exported for study in the LSU Archaeology
lab, including hundreds of wood samples from pole and thatch buildings,
as well as pottery sherds.
"The Archaeology lab looks like a Tupperware party, with hundreds of
plastic containers of water, but they are keeping the wood samples wet
so they don't dry out and deteriorate," said McKillop, who is the Thomas
& Lillian Landrum Alumni Professor in the LSU Department of Geography
and Anthropology.
She explained the strategy to continue research in the lab: "I decided to submit a wood post sample for radiocarbon dating from each building at Ek
Way Nal to see if they all dated to the same time, which was suggested by
the visibility of artifacts and buildings on the sea floor." When the
dates started coming in, two at a time, McKillop identified a building construction sequence that began in the Late Classic at the height of
Maya civilization and continued through the Terminal Classic when the
dynastic leaders of inland city states were losing control and eventually
the cities were abandoned by A.D. 900.
According to McKillop, "Using the well-studied site, Sacapulas, Guatemala,
as a model, worked well to develop archaeological expectations for
different activities for brine boiling in a salt kitchen, a residence and
other activities, including salting fish." In the Ancient Mesoamerica
article, they report a 3-part building construction sequence with salt kitchens, at least one residence and an outdoor area where fish were
salted and dried. The archeologists' strategy of radiocarbon dating each building had produced a finer grain chronology for Ek Way Nal that they
are using for more sites.
The new analysis verifies McKillop's estimate that 10 salt kitchens were
in production at a time at the Paynes Creek Salt Works, which she reported
in her book "Maya Salt Works" (2019, University Press of Florida).
"The research underscores the importance of radiocarbon dating each pole
and thatch building at the salt works in order to evaluate production
capacity of this dietary necessity. The research also shows the value
of individually mapping artifacts and posts on the sea floor at the
underwater sites in order to interpret building use. Using Sacapulas
salt works as a model from which to develop archaeological correlates
fits with Ek Way Nal and suggests the Maya living permanently at the
community were engaged in surplus household production of salt that
was well integrated in the regional economy, allowing them to acquire
a variety of nonlocal goods," she said.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Louisiana_State_University. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Heather McKillop, E. Cory Sills. BRIQUETAGE AND BRINE: LIVING
AND WORKING
AT THE CLASSIC MAYA SALT WORKS OF EK WAY NAL, BELIZE. Ancient
Mesoamerica, 2021; 1 DOI: 10.1017/S0956536121000341 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211119171224.htm
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