Marine Resources: A Viable Subsistence Alternative for the Prehistoric Lowland Maya¹

Identifying immigrants to Tikal, Guatemala: Defining local variability in strontium isotope ratios of human tooth enamel

“…Like cacao, marine foods that might have been traded inland [27,35] would have high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, equivalent to sea salt, and are likely to have been elite foods. Indeed, Valdez and Mock [59] argue that Belizean sal cocida production was geared to the salting and preservation of fish for transport to inland consumers.…”

Recovering social and cultural dynamics from plaster floors: chemical analyses at ancient Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico

“…A major research goal of The Pakbeh Regional Economy Program, initiated in 1993 by Bruce Dahlin, has been to test the hypothesis that Chunchucmil's growth was boosted by vigorous trade along the Gulf of Mexico [16], by controlling Mesoamerica's second largest saltworks [15], and by exploiting resources (fruit, nuts, game animals, fish, shellfish, palms for roof thatch, wood for building and dyes, vines and grasses for bundling materials) from the littoral, estuaries and seasonally inundated savannah to the west [32].…”

Finding Drama in Bones: Looking Beyond Identification in Ritual Faunal

“…Thus, only a small number of bones could be attributed to actual fish brought to Caracol. This is important in that it undermines any discussion of fish as a food source (Lange 1971;Chase et al 2004:15) and, not surprisingly, White and Schwartz (1989) found no isotopic evidence of marine resources in the diet at inland sites except for an elite male in a tomb burial at Lamanai. Pohl (1983:74-75, 78) associates fish, along with shells, coral and other marine objects with the "cult of the sea" related to renewal, rebirth, water, and rain.…”