Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:38:01.322Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Underwater Archaeology, Salt Production, and Coastal Maya Trade at Stingray Lagoon, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Heather McKillop
Heather McKillop*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4105
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ancient sources of salt have been revealed by underwater archaeology along the south coast of Belize. A relative rise in sea level of about 1 m at the end of the Classic period (ca. A. D. 900) submerged ancient Maya settlements and transformed the modern landscape by reducing the amount of available land and by changing the vegetation. The discovery of submerged archaeological sites and their dating by associated ceramics and radiocarbon date determination documents the sea level rise. Salt production by the sal cocida or boiling method at the underwater site of Stingray Lagoon and at other specialized salt production sites provided salt for coastal use and inland transport and diminished the need for long-distance import of this basic human requirement. This paper describes salt-making artifacts as well as salt production. The lack of animal bones at the Stingray Lagoon site where other organic material was preserved indicates that salt was not produced for salt-drying fish. Evidence that salt was obtained from the Belizean coast instead of from the northern Yucatán coast is in line with the view of ancient Maya economy in which basic subsistence resources were produced locally whereas long-distance trade was concentrated on elite or ceremonial resources and goods.

Antiguas fuentes de sal han sido expuestas por medio de estudios de arqueología submarina a lo largo de la costa sur de Belice. Un incremento de aproximadamente un metro (1 m) en el nivel del mar sumergió antiguos pueblos de la civilizacion maya al final del período Clásico (ca. 900 D. C.), transformando la nueva superficie, reduciendo asi la cantidad de tierra disponible, y cambiando la vegetación. El descubrimiento de estos sitios arqueológicos sumergidos, su antigüedad, y su asociación con cerámica y fechas de radiocarbono documentan el mencionado incremento en el nivel del mar. La producción de sal por medio del método de sal cocida o método de ebullición en el sitio sumergido de Stingray Lagoon y otros lugares especializados en la producción de sal abasteció a pueblos costeros y dentro de la isla, disminuyendo así la importación de este básico requisito humano. La producción de sal y artefactos usados para esta tarea han sido descritos. La falta de huesos de animales en Stingray Lagoon donde al mismo tiempo otra materia orgánica fue preservada, indica que la sal no fue producida para el propósito de secar pescado. El adquirir la sal de la costa de Belice y no de la costa norte de Yucatán concuerda con el punto de vista económico de la antigua civilización maya, en el cual los productos para la subsistencia básica eran obtenidos de lugares cercanos, y sólo mercadería para personas de la clase alta y productos para usos ceremoniales eran traídos de lugares más retirados.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 1995 , pp. 214 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adams, R. E. W. 1971 The Ceramics of Altar de Sacrificios Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 63, No. 1. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Adams, R. E. W., Brown, W. E. Jr., and Culbert, T. P. 1981 Radar Mapping, Archeology, and Ancient Maya Land Use. Science 213:1457–1463.Google Scholar
Andrews, A. P. 1983 Maya Salt Production and Trade. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Andrews, E. W. IV 1969 The Archaeological Use and Distribution of Mollusca in the Maya Lowlands Middle American Research Institute Publication 34. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Brown, I. W. 1980 Salt and the Eastern North American Indian: An Archaeological Study. Lower Mississippi Survey Bulletin No. 6. Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Carr, H. S. 1986 Preliminary Results of Analysis of Fauna. In Archaeology at Cerros, Belize, Central America, Volume I, An Interim Report, edited by R. A. Robertson and D. A. Freidel, pp. 127–146. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.Google Scholar
Carter, R. W. G. 1988 Coastal Environments: An Introduction to the Physical, Ecological, and Cultural Systems of Coastlines Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Chase, D. Z., and Chase, A. F. 1989 Routes of Trade and Communication and the Integration of Maya Society: The Vista from Santa Rita Corozal, Belize. In Coastal Maya Trade, edited by H. McKillop and P. F. Healy, pp. 19–32. Occasional Papers in Anthropology 8. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Cliff, M, and Crane, C. J. 1989 Changing Subsistence Economy at a Late Preclassic Maya Community. In Prehistoric Maya Economies of Belize, edited by P. A. McAnany and B. L. Isaac, pp. 295–324. Research in Economic Anthropology, Supplement 4. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Cowgill, G. L. 1993 Comments on Andrew Sluyter “Long-distance Staple Transport in Western Mesoamerica: Insights Through Quantitative Modeling.” Ancient Mesoamerica 4:201–203.Google Scholar
Dahlin, B. 1983 Climate and Prehistory on the Yucatan Peninsula. Climatic Change 5:245–263.Google Scholar
Demarest, A. A. 1992 Ideology in Ancient Maya Cultural Evolution: The Dynamics of Galactic Polities. In Ideology and Pre-Columbian Civilizations, edited by A. A. Demarest and G. W. Conrad, pp. 135–57. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Dillon, B. D. 1977 Salinas de Los Nueve Cerros: Preliminary Archaeological Investigations. Studies in Mesoamerican Art, Archaeology, and Ethnohistory 2. Ballena Press, Socorro, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Drennan, R. D. 1984a Long-Distance Transport Costs in Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. American Anthropologist 86:105–112.Google Scholar
Drennan, R. D. 1984b Long-Distance Movement of Goods in the Mesoamerican Formative and Classic. American Antiquity 49:27–43.Google Scholar
Dunn, R. K., and Mazzullo, S. J. 1993 Holocene Paleocoastal Reconstruction and Its Relationship to Marco Gonzalez, Ambergris Cay, Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology 20:121–131.Google Scholar
Folan, W. J., Gunn, J., Eaton, J. D., and Patch, R. W. 1983 Paleoclimatological Patterning in Southern Mesoamerica. Journal of Field Archaeology 10:453–468.Google Scholar
Graham, E. 1983 The Highlands of the Lowlands: Environment and Archaeology in the Stann Creek Valley, Belize, Central America Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Graham, E. 1987 Resource Diversity in Belize and Its Implications for Models of Lowland Trade. American Antiquity 52:753–767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, E. 1989 Brief Synthesis of Coastal Site Data from Colson Point, Placencia, and Marco Gonzalez, Belize. In Coastal Maya Trade, edited by H. McKillop and P. F. Healy, pp. 135–154. Occasional Papers in Anthropology 8. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Graham, E. 1991 Archaeological Insights into Colonial Period Maya Life atTipu, Belize. In The Spanish Borderlands in Pan-American Perspective. Columbian Consequences, Vol. 3, edited by D. H. Thomas, pp. 319–335. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Graham, E., and Pendergast, D. M. 1989 Excavations at the Marco Gonzalez Site, Ambergris Cay, Belize, 1986. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:1–16.Google Scholar
Hamblin, N. L. 1980 Animal Utilization by the Cozumel Maya: Interpretation Through Faunal Analysis Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Hammond, N. D. 1972 Obsidian Trade Routes in the Mayan Area. Science 178:1092–1093.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammond, N. D. 1975 Lubaantun: A Classic Maya Realm. Monographs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Healy, P. F, Lambert, J. D. H., Arnason, J. T., and Hebda, R. J. 1983 Caracol, Belize: Evidence of Ancient Maya Agricultural Terracing. Journal of Field Archaeology 10:397–410.Google Scholar
Healy, P. F, McKillop, H. I., and Walsh, B. 1984 Analysis of Obsidian from Moho Cay, Belize: New Evidence on Classic Maya Trade Routes. Science 225:414–417.Google Scholar
Joyce, T. A. 1926 Report on the Investigations at Lubaantun, British Honduras, in 1926. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 56:207–230.Google Scholar
Kidder, A. V 1954 Miscellaneous Archaeological Specimens from Mesoamerica. In Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology, Publication No. 117, pp. 5–26. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Lange, F W. 1971 Marine Resources: A Viable Subsistence Alternative for the Prehistoric Lowland Maya. American Anthropologist 73:619–636.Google Scholar
Lentz, D. L. 1991 Maya Diets of the Rich and Poor: Paleobotanical Evidence from Copan. Latin American Antiquity 2:269–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leventhal, R. M. 1991 Southern Belize: An Ancient Maya Region. In Vision and Revision in Maya Studies, edited by F. S. Clancy and P. D. Harrison, pp. 125–141. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1980 Moho Cay, Belize: Preliminary Investigations of Trade, Settlement, and Marine Resource Exploitation. Master’s thesis, Trent University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1982 Wild Cane Cay Archaeological Project, 1982 Season. Mexicon 4(5/6):88–89.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1984 Prehistoric Maya Reliance on Marine Resources: Analysis of a Midden From Moho Cay, Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology 11:25–35.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1985 Prehistoric Exploitation of the Manatee in the Maya and Circum-Caribbean Areas. World Archaeology 16:337–353.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1987 Wild Cane Cay: An Insular Classic Period to Postclassic Period Maya Trading Station Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Santa Barbara. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1989 Coastal Maya Trade: Obsidian Densities from Wild Cane Cay, Belize. In Prehistoric Maya Economies of Belize, edited by P. A. McAnanay and B. L. Isaac, pp. 17–56. Research in Economic Anthropology, Supplement 4. JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1993 Comment on Scott Atran “Itza Maya Tropical Agro-Forestry.” Current Anthropology 34:691–692.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1994a Ancient Maya Tree Cropping: A Viable Subsistence Adaptation for the Island Maya. Ancient Mesoamerica 5:129–140.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1994b Traders of the Maya Coast: Five Fieldseasons in the Swamps of South Coastal Belize. Mexicon 16:115–119.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1995a The Role of Northern Ambergris Caye in Maya Obsidian Trade: Evidence from Visual Sourcing and Blade Technology. In Maya Maritime Trade, Settlement, and Populations on Ambergris Caye, Belize, edited by T. H. Guderjan and J. F. Garber, pp. 163–174. Labryinthos, Culver City, California.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1995b Prehistoric Maya Use of Native Palms: Archaeobotanical and Ethnobotanical Evidence. In The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, edited by S. L. Fedick. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, in press.Google Scholar
McKillop, H. 1996 Ancient Maya Trading Ports and the Integration of Long-Distance and Regional Economies: Wild Cane Cay in South-Coastal Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 7, in press.Google Scholar
McKillop, H., and Healy, P. F. (editors) 1989 Coastal Maya Trade. Occasional Papers in Anthropology 8. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
McKillop, H., Jackson, L., Michel, H., Stross, F., and Asaro, F. 1988 Chemical Source Analysis of Maya Obsidian Artifacts: New Perspectives from Wild Cane Cay, Belize. In Archaeometry 88, edited by R. M. Farquhar, R. G. V. Hancock, and L. A. Pavlish, pp. 239–244. Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, J. J., and Kepecs, S. M. 1989 Prehispanic Maya Saltmaking in Belize: New Evidence. American Antiquity 54:522–533.Google Scholar
Marcus, J. 1983 Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads. American Antiquity 48:454–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, J. 1991 Another Pinch of Salt: A Comment on MacKinnon and Kepecs. American Antiquity 56:526–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, G. 1928 Pottery and Other Artifacts from Caves in British Honduras and Guatemala. Indian Notes and Monographs No. 47. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Miller, A. G. 1977 The Maya and the Sea: Trade and Cult at Tancah and Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. In The Sea in the Pre-Columbian World, edited by E. Benson, pp. 97–140. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Nance, C. R. 1992 Guzman Mound: A Late Preclassic Salt Works on the South Coast of Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 3:27–46.Google Scholar
Pendergast, D. M. 1979 Excavations at Altun Ha, Belize, 1964–1970, Volume 1. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Pohl, M. D. 1976 Ethnozoology of the Maya: An Analysis of Fauna from Five Sites in the Peten, Guatemala Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Pohl, M. D. (editor) 1990 Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Price, B. J. 1978 Commerce and Cultural Process in Mesoamerica. In Mesoamerican Communication Routes and Cultural Contacts, edited by T. A. Lee, Jr., and C. Navarrete, pp. 231–245. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation 40. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.Google Scholar
Rathje, W L. 1971 The Origin and Development of Lowland Classic Maya Civilization. American Antiquity 36:275–285.Google Scholar
Reina, R. E., and Monaghan, J. 1981 The Ways of the Maya: Salt Production in Sacapulas, Guatemala. Expedition 23(3):13—33.Google Scholar
Rice, D. S. 1978 Population Growth and Subsistence Alternatives in a Tropical Lacustrine Environment. In Prehispanic Maya Agriculture, edited by P. D. Harrison and B. L. Turner II, pp. 35–61. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Sabloff, J. A. 1975 Excavations at Seibal, Department of the Peten, Guatemala: Ceramics Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 13, No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Sabloff, J. A. 1977 Old Myths, New Myths: The Role of Sea Traders in the Development of Ancient Maya Civilization. In The Sea in the Pre-Columbian World, edited by E. Benson, pp. 67–95. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington.Google Scholar
Scheie, L., and Miller, M. E. 1986 The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. George Baziller, New York.Google Scholar
Sluyter, A. 1993 Long-Distance Staple Transport in Western Mesoamerica: Insights Through Quantitative Mbdeling. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:193–199.Google Scholar
Tourtellot, G., and Sabloff, J. A. 1972 Exchange Systems Among the Ancient Maya. American Antiquity 37:126–135.Google Scholar
Turner, B. L. II, and Harrison, P. D. (editors) 1983 Pulltrouser Swamp: Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Turner, B. L. II, and Miksicek, C. H. 1984 Economic Plant Species Associated with Prehistoric Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Economic Botany 38:179–193.Google Scholar
Valdez, F Jr., and Mock, S. B. 1991 Additional Considerations for Prehispanic Saltmaking in Belize. American Antiquity 56:520–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, C. D., and Schwarcz, H. P. 1989 Ancient Maya Diet: As Inferred from Isotopic and Elemental Analysis of Human Bone. Journal of Archaeological Science 16:451—474.Google Scholar
Wing, E. S. 1975a Animal Remains from Lubaantun. In Lubaantun: A Classic Maya Realm, by N. D. Hammond, pp. 379–382. Monographs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology No. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Wing, E. S. 1975b Vertebrate Faunal Remains. In Archaeological Investigations on the Yucatan Peninsula, edited by E. W. Andrews IV, M. P. Simmons, E. S. Wing, and E. W. Andrews V, pp. 186–188. Middle American Research Institute Publication 31. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Wing, E. S. 1977 Factors Influencing the Exploitation of Marine Resources. In The Sea in the Pre-Columbian World, edited by E. Benson, pp. 47–66. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington.Google Scholar
Wing, E. S. 1978 Use of Dogs for Food: An Adaptation to the Coastal Environment. In Prehistoric Coastal Adaptations, edited by B. Stark and B. Voorhies, pp. 29–42. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar