This project seeks to understand how the exploitation and management of environmental resources affected the growth and decline of a large-scale complex society. It provides insight into how the focus and specialization on a single specific resource can form the basis for the growth of social complexity and how a society adapts - or fails to adapt - when continuation of production is no longer viable. Examination of this process is a "traditional" level society has the potential to provide insight into multiple regions in the developing world today.
Researchers have been debating the causes of the socio-political disintegration of Ancient Maya civilization for many years now and environmental overexploitation has been suggested as a critical variable. A systematic investigation of the processes involved in the production of an important material for daily life will provide information about how economic forces and consequent resource overconsumption may have played an important role in the relatively rapid rise and fall of this complex society. The Ancient Maya used lime powder for everything from constructing monumental palaces and temple-pyramids to ensuring a healthy diet. Despite its obvious significance, researchers have yet to completely understand the method by which the Ancient Maya produced lime powder and the potential environmental impacts of the production process. The recent discovery of over 150 ring-like structures hypothesized to be lime-burning kilns in the northern Yucatan Peninsula now provides the unique opportunity to investigate potential ancient lime-burning kiln technology and shed light on the manufacturing of this crucial product. An in-depth study of lime production, a key indicator of social and economic growth - and decline - has the potential to shed light on the timing of and processes precipitating the relatively rapid florescence and disintegration of Ancient Maya society. The researchers will create a theoretical and methodological framework that will not be restricted to the Maya area, but instead will be applicable to the study of ancient complex societies that exploited limestone resources around the world. The project members have established strong connections with local communities in Mexico and several universities in the United States, and will provide the opportunity for American undergraduate and graduate students to interact with people of a different cultural background while also training in archaeological methods and theory. The research will be conducted my Kenneth Seligson and the resultant data will provide the basis for his doctoral dissertation.
In addition to identifying the specific processes involved in local lime production, this project will develop a framework for addressing such broader issues as: 1) the degree of centralization of control of lime production; 2) the importance of the lime industry to the ancient economy; 3) and the effects of the stone processing industry on other sectors of society and the environment. Though the significance of lime powder for several aspects of ancient Maya society is unquestionable, there remains a relative dearth of information about its production in pre-Hispanic times. In order to understand how the Ancient Maya produced this crucial material, the project will include: systematic excavations of a series of ancient lime kilns; a large comparative test-pitting sample of these kilns; in-depth spatial and contextual analyses; multi-elemental, petrographic, and heat-treatment analyses; and the experimental construction of a working lime kiln to understand the amount of labor, time and materials involved in the production process. Information recovered during this investigation will shed light on the effects that the Ancient Maya lime production industry had on environmental resource management and the socio-economic growth, decline, and collapse of Classic Period Maya society.
