Power Plants: Paleobotanical Evidence of Rural Feasting in Late Classic Belize

Goldstein, D.J.; Hageman, Jon B.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0471-3_17

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Food and artifact status values are established using various criteria: texts, ethnohistory, iconography, rarity, exotic origin, contextual associations, diversity, labor-intensity of production and/or preparation, subjection to sumptuary restriction, periodicity, and/or simply inherent nutritional value (Bray 2003a;Crader 1990;Curet and Pestle 2010;DeFrance 2009, table 1;Goldstein and Hageman 2010;Grant 2002;Jackson and Scott 2003;Reents-Budet 1998;Sykes 2004, Thomas 2007van der Veen 2003). In historical contexts, price is often used to assess a food's ranking (Mylona 2008, pp.…”

Section: Social Stratificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Archaeology of Food and Social Diversity

Twiss

2012

J Archaeol Res

156

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This article reviews current archaeological research on the interactions between food and intrasocietal diversity. Today's archaeology of food and diversity is theoretically diverse but generally views food as biologically necessary and cognitively prominent material culture that plays an active role in constructing and negotiating social distinctions. Areal foci in the literature include Europe, Southwest Asia, Mesoamerica, the U.S. Southwest, and the Andes; thematic emphases include economic, status, ethnic, gender, and religious distinctions. Methodological issues that must be considered when assessing the social implications of food remains include not only the contexts and characters of specific samples but also the integration of multiple data sets that may all differ with respect to their taphonomic histories and the aspects of food behavior they reflect.

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Section: Social Stratificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Archaeology of Food and Social Diversity

Twiss

2012

J Archaeol Res

156

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“…It is also difficult to determine the original growing context of many such species: deliberate planting or adventitious growth, in wild or managed reserves, in milpa fields undergoing managed succession, or homegardens. These taxa are still worthy of attention, however, as Montero López and colleagues (2016) and Goldstein and Hageman (2010) have revealed in their studies of politically charged feasting practices. The use of non-domesticated plants was not simply related to daily subsistence but was related to ritualized practice, as well, where Maya rulers incorporated a suite of wild species into their performative repertoire for highly symbolic purposes.…”

Section: Horticulture and Non-domesticatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, food residue research has revealed not simply the use of infield gardens and outfield milpas but rather a range of diverse places. The various food plant residues from these places indicate nuanced perceptions of local ecologies and degrees of domesticity (Goldstein and Hageman 2010;Slotten et al 2020), where "agricultural land, both irrigated and rain fed, lies in an intermediate position between fully social and fully natural space" (Hanks 1990, p. 306). Engineering and management of wetland areas are reflected in botanical assemblages containing taxa of wetland plants (Goldstein and Hageman 2010) and the movement of periphyton from wetland areas into dryland fields (Fedick and Morrison 2004).…”

Section: Recharacterizing Lowland Maya Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 1): Paleoethnobotanical Residues and New Perspectives on Plant Management

Morell-Hart¹,

Fedick

2022

J Archaeol Res

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We focus on pre-Columbian agricultural regimes in the Maya Lowlands, using new datasets of archaeological wood charcoal, seeds, phytoliths, and starch grains; biological properties of plants; and contemporary Indigenous practices. We address inherited models of agriculture in the lowlands: the limitations of the environment (finding more affordances than anticipated by earlier models); the homogeneity of agricultural strategies (finding more heterogeneity of strategies across the lowlands than a single rigid template); the centrality of maize in agriculture (finding more reliance on root crops and tree crops than historically documented); the focus on the milpa system as food base (finding more agroforestry, homegardening, horticulture, and wild resource management than previously documented); the dominance of swidden strategies in agricultural practices (finding more diverse practices than accounted for in most models); and the foregrounding of maize crop failure in collapse models (finding more evidence of resilience and sustainable agricultural practices than predicted).

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“…The development of ethnobotanical studies in pre-Hispanic Central America has been slower than other regions, despite important foundational research completed at sites from southern Mexico through Panama. Critical work has been accomplished on the origins and spread of cultigens such as maize (Perry et al 2007;Pickersgill 2007;Ranere et al 2009), the relationship between plants and artifact use (Lentz et al 1996;Piperno and Holst 1998), the importance of root crops in ancient societies (Cagnato and Ponce 2017;Piperno 2006;Piperno et al 2000;Sheets et al 2011;Simms et al 2013), agricultural practices and landscape (Baldi 2011; Dickau 2010;Matthews 1984;Piperno 2007;Rue 1987Rue , 1989, and forest management and ecology (Anchukaitis and Horn 2005;Dussol et al 2017;Goldstein and Hageman 2009;Lentz et al 1997McNeil et al 2010;McNeil 2012). In recent years, researchers have used new approaches that greatly expand the potential for recovery of evidence of plants and their uses (Anchukaitis and Horn 2005;Hageman and Goldstein 2009;Kraft et al 2014;McClung de Tapia 1985;McNeil et al 2010;Morehart et al 2005;Morell-Hart 2011;Morell-Hart et al 2014;Pickersgill 2007;Piperno et al 2000;Sheets et al 2011Sheets et al , 2012Whitney et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnoecology in Pre-Hispanic Central America: Foodways and Human-Plant Interfaces

et al. 2019

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In recent years, researchers in pre-Hispanic Central America have used new approaches that greatly amplify and enhance evidence of plants and their uses. This paper presents a case study from Puerto Escondido, located in the lower Ulúa River valley of Caribbean coastal Honduras. We demonstrate the effectiveness of using multiple methods in concert to interpret ethnobotanical practice in the past. By examining chipped-stone tools, ceramics, sediments from artifact contexts, and macrobotanical remains, we advance complementary inquiries. Here, we address botanical practices “in the home,” such as foodways, medicinal practices, fiber crafting, and ritual activities, and those “close to home,” such as agricultural and horticultural practices, forest management, and other engagements with local and distant ecologies. This presents an opportunity to begin to develop an understanding of ethnoecology at Puerto Escondido, here defined as the dynamic relationship between affordances provided in a botanical landscape and the impacts of human activities on that botanical landscape.

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Power Plants: Paleobotanical Evidence of Rural Feasting in Late Classic Belize

Cited by 20 publications

References 15 publications

The Archaeology of Food and Social Diversity

The Archaeology of Food and Social Diversity

Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 1): Paleoethnobotanical Residues and New Perspectives on Plant Management

Ethnoecology in Pre-Hispanic Central America: Foodways and Human-Plant Interfaces

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