Briquetage and Brine: Living and Working at the Classic Maya Salt Works of Ek Way Nal, Belize

Abstract

Systematic flotation survey and spatial analysis of artifacts at the submerged salt work of Ek Way Nal reveal evidence of a residence, salt kitchens, and additional activities. Ek Way Nal is one of 110 salt works associated with a Late to Terminal Classic (A.D. 600–900) salt industry known as the Paynes Creek Salt Works. Wooden posts that form the walls of 10 buildings are remarkably preserved in a peat bog below the sea floor providing an opportunity to examine surface artifacts in relation to buildings. Numerous salt kitchens have been located at the Paynes Creek Salt Works by evidence of abundant briquetage—pottery associated with boiling brine over fires to make salt. As one of the largest salt works with 10 buildings, there is an opportunity to examine variability in building use. Systematic flotation survey over the site and flagging and mapping individual artifacts and posts provide evidence that the Ek Way Nal salt makers had a residence near the salt kitchens, along with evidence of salting fish for subsistence or surplus household production. The results are compared with ethnographic evidence from Sacapulas and other salt works.

Household salt production by the Late Classic Maya: underwater excavations at Ta'ab Nuk Na

“…Belize Red is a serving ware imported from the upper Belize Valley and dates to the Late and Terminal Classic periods at Caracol and elsewhere (Chase & Chase 2012). Some modal traits, such as gouge-incised scallop or diagonal lines on the vessel exterior, are not evident in the Ta'ab Nuk Na sample, but are present at other Paynes Creek sites, including Ek Way Nal (McKillop 2002: 86–90, figs 3.35–3.37; McKillop & Sills 2021). The presence of Belize Red at Ta'ab Nuk Na before the Terminal Classic (AD 800–900), in contrast to its presence after AD 800 at the inland site of Lubaantun (Hammond 1975), suggests that the dates for this type of pottery may be earlier at Lubaantun as well.…”

“…The earliest (Phase 1) includes Buildings F and H, built sometime from the end of the Early Classic (AD 300–600) to the first part of the Late Classic (AD 600–800). The site of Ek Way Nal was not in use at this time (McKillop & Sills 2021: fig. 7) (Figure 5).…”

“…Phase 2 includes the only Lubaantun-style ocarina (figurine whistle), which was not made at Ta'ab Nuk Na and may have been made at Lubaantun (Figure 7k). Lubaantun-style ocarinas are present at Ek Way Nal during the site's initial construction phase in the early part of the Late Classic but are subsequently absent (McKillop & Sills 2021: figs 16–17).…”

“…Most of the chert from Building B and elsewhere at Ta'ab Nuk Na resembles chert from Colha in northern Belize, indicating that the Ta'ab Nuk Na Maya were able to trade beyond the southern Belize region for high-quality chert. Use-wear analysis of 20 chert artefacts from Ek Way Nal and other sites in the lagoon system indicates that most were used for processing fish or meat, with some used for cutting or whittling wood (McKillop & Aoyama 2018; McKillop & Sills 2021). The Ta'ab Nuk Na chert tools are therefore expected to be multi-purpose, including woodworking.…”

“…Mapping wooden architecture and associated artefacts on the sea floor at Ek Way Nal, located in the main channel of the lagoon, revealed a Terminal Classic (AD 800–900) residential structure and associated salt kitchens (see McKillop & Sills 2021). Here, we report the discovery of a Late Classic (AD 600–800) residential structure and three salt kitchens at Ta'ab Nuk Na, the largest of the Paynes Creek Salt Works sites, dated to the Maya Late Classic, a period during which inland demand for dietary salt was at its greatest.…”