Gathering and Sowing Across the Central Maya Lowlands: A Review of Plant Use by Preceramic Peoples and the Early to Middle Preclassic Maya

Abstract

The recovery of macro- and microbotanicals, along with the study of chemical residues, allows us to shed light on a number of anthropological issues concerning ancient populations. This article reviews the data available to date on the plants used by preceramic peoples during the Archaic period and by the Early to Middle Preclassic Maya across the central Maya lowlands. Archaeobotanical data suggest that early preceramic populations took advantage of their ecologically rich natural environment by gathering a range of wild foods and by cultivating domesticates such as maize, manioc, and chili peppers, a pattern that seemingly continued into the Early to Middle Preclassic, as the Maya settled into village life and left more visible traces of modifications to their natural environment in the form of canals and terraces. This region is of particular interest with regard to the development of sociopolitical complexity, as mobile hunter-gatherers used domesticates during the millennia that preceded the onset of sedentary life. These early populations set the stage for patterns of plant use that endured through time, but also across space in the Maya region.

Scrutinizing the paleoecological record of the Maya forest

“…Time among the Maya 8,000-4,000 BP Archeological data from the Archaic period is scant but growing (Awe et al, 2021;Prufer et al, 2021;Rosenswig, 2021;Valdez et al, 2021;Wrobel et al, 2021), yet evidence of plant domestication shows inhabitants of the Maya Lowlands were already manipulating flora. Maize, beans, squash, and chile supplemented hunting and gathering (McClung de Tapia, 1992;Betz, 1997;Piperno and Pearsall, 1998;Smith, 1998;Clark and Cheetham, 2002;Blake, 2015;Cagnato, 2021). Little is known of the probably sparse Archaic settlements or seasonal patterns (Voorhies, 1998;Lohse et al, 2006;Stemp and Harrison-Buck, 2019), and archeological remains are largely represented by stone tools (MacNeish, 1982).…”

Approaches to Preceramic Polymer Fiber Fabrication and On-Demand Applications

“…The first step in producing non-oxide ceramic fibers is the synthesis of inorganic polymers which have compositions that are determined by the precursor polymers and lengths that depend on the production process. Precursor polymers of non-oxide ceramic materials, such as polysilanes, polycarbosilanes, polysilazanes, polycarbosilazanes, and polyborosilazanes, are organosilicon compounds [21][22][23][24][25][26]. The ceramic composition is determined by the type of precursor ceramic used.…”