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Additional Considerations for Prehispanic Saltmaking in Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Fred Valdez Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1086
Shirley B. Mock
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1086

Abstract

A recently described set of ceramic artifacts have been functionally assigned to saltmaking by MacKinnon and Kepecs (1989), who concluded that saltmaking activity was focused on producing salt for commoners. While we are in agreement about saltmaking activities along the Belizean coast, we propose that saltmaking there perhaps was oriented toward meat and fish preservation for transport into interior population centers during the Terminal Classic period.

Résumé

Résumé

Un conjunto de artefactos cerámicos recientemente descripto ha sido atribuído a la producción de sal (Mackinnon y Kepecs 1989). Se ha dicho que esta producción estaba destinada a la clase baja. Aunque estamos de acuerdo acerca de la producción de sal a lo largo de la costa de Bélize, proponemos que allí estaba tal vez orientada a la preservación de carne y pescado para su transporte a centros de población en el interior durante el período Clásico Terminal.

Type
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Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1991

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