Under the guidance of Dr. Gayle Fritz, Ms. Clarissa Cagnato will conduct archaeological excavations at three sites in Northwestern Petén, Guatemala - an area that remains one of the least investigated in the Maya region. During the 2012 and 2013 field seasons through the recovery and analysis of macro- and microbotanical remains the researcher will seek to address issues regarding the subsistence of the ancient Maya populations that occupied the area during the Classic period (AD 250-900). Two of the main goals are to reconstruct the subsistence strategies, and to determine how variations across time and space relate to broader social and political changes. Ms. Cagnato's research uses multiple techniques to address these questions, including analysis of plant macro-remains (those visible to the naked eye), and microscopic plant remains in the form of starch grains, together with analyzing the residues left behind on ceramic vessels.
While the benefits of paleoethnobotanical approaches in archaeology are recognized, few systematic studies have been applied in the Maya region. Therefore, the subsistence strategies and choices of the ancient Maya populations are still not well understood, and this project will be the first in the immediate region. In order to maximize the understanding of food practices through time and space, the research will focus on investigating areas of food processing (kitchens) and food disposal (trash pits) from three sites: La Corona, El Peru-Waka, and El Achiotal. These sites will provide key information about plant consumption and how it may have changed through time, as they were occupied at different time periods, and each has its own intricate political history of alliances and war. The research will aid in understanding the varying patterns of food consumption across time and space. It also seeks to address the resource management strategies and use of the natural environment, an important topic to conservationists today.
This intensive paleoethnobotanical study will contribute not only to a better understanding of the past, but also addresses more contemporary topics, namely conservation and environmental management. Moreover, the continued presence of archaeological research in the region provides support for local workers, and deters looting of the site and exploitation of the fragile tropical forest. The results from this project will be published in peer-reviewed publications and presented at conferences and symposia in both Guatemala and internationally. These efforts will highlight the importance of using multiple lines of paleoethnobotanical analysis in archaeological research, and provide a starting point for future scholars of the ancient Maya. The research will foster international collaboration between Guatemalan and US students.
The doctoral dissertation improvement grant was requested for carrying out research that was originally aimed at addressing the cuisine of the ancient Maya inhabiting sites in northwestern Petén during the Early Classic and Late Classic periods, and identifying variation in subsistence patterns across time and space. To do this, comparative archaeobotanical analysis collected from three sites was planned. The following main questions were posed: how diverse was the diet of the ancient Maya who inhabited the Neotropical Petén? Do the palaeoethnobotanical data indicate changing patterns of consumption through time and space? And what environments/ecological niches do these plants indicate were exploited by the ancient Maya? Although some of the data recovered can address the previous questions, a large majority of the plant remains recovered came from ritual contexts, and therefore cuisine was no longer the sole focus of the research. In addition, samples were collected from two out of the three archaeological sites (El Peru-Waka’ and La Corona). Regardless of these changes, the data obtained allow for a better understanding of plant use by the ancient Maya living in this particular region. The intellectual merit of this project was based on the fact that this was the first systematic collection and analysis of flotation samples from this region, and therefore it aimed at providing a basic understanding of the plants utilized by the ancient Maya. The successful recovery of plant remains in various forms (both visible and invisible to the naked eye) such as carbonized seeds, starch grains, and organic residues, support the idea that carrying out paleoethnobotanical analyses in this region is worthwhile and can yield excellent results. Moreover, plants that were up to now unknown or were recovered in minimal quantities in the archaeological record of the Maya region have come to light, suggestive that the ancient Classic period Maya used a greater number of plant resources than was previously known. The results also suggest that in terms of the plants used in ritual and subsistence practices, there is significant continuity between past and present day activities. Additionally, the research proposed to inform on plant resource use, as scholars have long been concerned with ancient Maya environmental management practices and issues of potential over-exploitation, This latter topic is not only relevant to scholars of the Terminal Classic (i.e. Classic collapse), but also to modern-day assessments of Neotropical forest conservation. Although macrobotanical remains (visible to the naked eye) do not have the same accuracy that other lines of data have regarding the past environment (e.g. pollen studies), the ones recovered by this project support the idea that diverse environments were exploited and modified (i.e. agricultural fields, gardens, and forests). Data from the Late to Terminal Classic period in fact indicate that disturbed environments continued to be exploited around the sites, and that gardens and forests continued to provide resources for the inhabitants, even during times of major political and social change. In 1990, the Guatemalan government established the Maya Biosphere Reserve (RBM), encompassing a large region of Central Petén. This reserve, which totals 1.5 million ha of land, includes the Laguna del Tigre National Park where the research sites are located. Unfortunately, the protected area continues to be under threat from both an ecological, but also from an archaeological perspective, as illegal looting is a major problem. In the original Broader Impacts it was noted that continuing research in this region not only allowed for active presence of archaeologists, but also supported the local community. In effect, this grant allowed for the hiring of local workmen, some of whom were newly recruited, while others had been working on the projects for many years. In the field, we collaborated with the workmen not only during the excavations, but also in the collection of soil samples and their subsequent flotation. The continuous research at these sites therefore allows for collaboration with local communities, and establishing long-term relationships. These long-term relationships often aid in combatting looting as local communities work together against illegal looting. In addition, the presence of archaeologists adds to the number of entities that in general aim to preserve the forest for environmental purposes, and serious efforts are made by projects to protect the areas surrounding the archaeological sites. Therefore, archaeology works hand in hand with bringing the past to light, and working to conserve the natural habitat.
