From Quelites to Crop Indices: Thinking Through Maya Chenopods

Summary

While chenopod cultivation has been documented extensively in North and South America, evidence for similar practices in the Maya area is lacking. Macrobotanical evidence of Chenopodium recovered from pre-Hispanic Maya archaeological sites is limited to a few seeds. In contrast, the palynological record suggests widespread tolerance across the entirety of the Maya area, if not intensive management or even cultivation of Cheno-am genera in some contexts. It is likely that chenopods are an integral part in the successional agroecology of fallowing and milpa agriculture. Typically, archaeologists consider such data as evidence of food production, but our work in documenting the ubiquity and uses of plant among ethnographic Maya populations strongly suggests that the primary use of chenopods among the Maya is as a source of greens and medicine.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• From Birdseed to Superfood: Chenopodium Cultivation and Management across the Globe

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17657