Under the supervision of Dr. William A. Saturno, Stephanie Simms will analyze data garnered through archaeological investigations at the Maya site of Escalera al Cielo. Escalera al Cielo is located in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico, within a network of hills surrounding a nearby urban center. The rural hilltop residence of Escalera al Cielo was intensively occupied between A.D. 800 and A.D. 950, and then abruptly abandoned. Although the causes for this rapid departure remain unknown, rich artifact scatters in and around household buildings provide a snapshot of daily life. Excavations of sleeping structures, kitchens, food storage areas, and adjoining open patios were designed to identify patterns of activities that took place there. Analyses of food residues from ceramic cooking and storage vessels, grinding stones and other stone tools, and sediments will provide new information on food-related activities.
There is little direct evidence for ancient Maya foodways (note: foodways refers to a holistic system of food conceptualization, procurement, distribution, preservation, preparation, and consumption shared by all members of a particular group). This results from poor preservation of organic materials in the humid tropics and a general lack of archaeological contexts appropriate for such studies (e.g., kitchen floors covered in artifacts). As a result, scholars tend to employ a direct historical approach to understanding foodways in the Maya area prior to European contact. Neither modern ethnographies nor ethnohistorical documents from the 16th century, however, take into account the effects of the introduction of foreign foodways and the complete disruption of traditional life that occurred during the Spanish conquest. This has been demonstrated to generate misleading assumptions about the cultural conservatism of indigenous societies throughout the Americas. Research at Escalera al Cielo will overcome the difficulties mentioned above through a multidisciplinary investigation of household production and consumption of food in order to illuminate aspects of ancient foodways and land management strategies within the Maya area. By integrating landscape, architecture, artifacts, and new methods for identifying microscopic botanical residues (such as phytoliths and starch grains), these data will be used to assess local as well as regional human-environment interactions and can contribute to models for future sustainability.
Specific details about human-environment interactions that are documented during this study will inform the efforts of the non-profit Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve (kiuic.org), of which the archaeological project is only one component. The overarching mission is to create a living laboratory for local and international research and education purposes, sponsoring the conservation of both the natural and cultural landscape of Yucatán. Undergraduate and graduate students from Mexico and the U.S. will continue to receive training during the field and lab dimensions of the project. In addition, the results of this research will be disseminated to the local community of Yaxachen through regular tours given to schoolchildren, posters, and town meetings. Photomicrographs of all botanical remains will be incorporated into an online database (paleobot.org) that will serve as a reference tool for researchers anywhere in the world. The complete study will be distributed to the scientific community in the author's doctoral dissertation and journal articles.
Excavations at the site of Escalera al Cielo, located in the Puuc Maya region of Yucatán, Mexico, revealed groups of artifacts left in and around domestic structures, strengthening the case for a rapid abandonment of the site at the end of the Terminal Classic period (AD 950); the timing corresponds with a regional demographic collapse, or the popularly termed "Maya collapse." This project involved the investigation of prehispanic Maya households at the site, with macro and microscopic analyses of the artifacts and plant remains they contained, and contributes to research into everyday lives in the ancient past. Taking advantage of the rare occurrence of such rich artifact assemblages, ceramic and stone implements were studied (with particular attention to food-related functions) to outline the basic culinary inventory. Microscopic plant remains collected from soils and adhering to artifacts provide information on specific plant species used for food (maize, beans, squash, arrowroot, palm fruits) and industrial purposes (palm leaves for roof thatch and mats). The spatial organization of architecture (e.g., residences, kitchens, storage facilities), artifacts in and around them, and plant remains reveal patterns of food-related activities within the household. For instance, it is evident where residents, most likely women, would regularly gather to grind maize and other ingredients at large grinding stones located in outdoor patios, under the eaves of thatched roofs. The identification of root crops provides new evidence for the range and diversity of ancient Maya diet, beyond the traditionally assumed reliance on maize, beans, and squash. In addition, abundant chile pepper residues on artifacts indicate that spicy food preparations were not only a component of central Mexican diets, but also ancient Maya diet, at least in the Puuc region. These new data contribute to regional models of site abandonment and demographic collapse, a widespread phenomenon for the Terminal Classic Maya that remains poorly understood. Information on the cultivation, gathering, and use of specific plant species also highlights human-environment interactions in the Puuc region of the Maya area, a challenging landscape with no perennial water sources that was once densely inhabited but is occupied by few subsistence farmers today. New archaeological methods were employed during this project, specifically the recovery and analysis of ancient plant microfossils, that overcome issues of preservation in humid conditions and contribute to our understanding of tropical agricultural societies. In addition, undergraduate and graduate students from the United States and Mexico received training in a variety of archaeological field and lab methods. Members of the local community of Yaxachen were employed during excavation and local schoolchildren receive regular tours of the site and protected forest surrounding the site. These new data on ancient diet are being incorporated into informational materials as the Kaxil Kiuic Biocultural Reserve (where the site is located) continues to develop a "living laboratory" for research and education. Finally, a National Geographic film entitled "Quest for the Lost Maya" was produced during 2011 excavations and presents additional information on the ancient inhabitants of the Puuc Maya region.
