Beyond Maize and Cacao: Reflections on Visual and Textual Representation and Archaeological Evidence of Other Plants in Precolumbian Mesoamerica

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Beyond Maize and Cacao: Reflections on Visual and Textual Representation and Archaeological Evidence of Other Plants in Precolumbian Mesoamerica" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Discussions of plant use in Mesoamerica have historically focused on two agricultural resources: maize and cacao. While recognizing the importance of these resources, we call attention to the critical contributions of other foraged and horticultural plants to nourishing the bodies and souls of indigenous Mesoamericans. Agroforestry systems in Mesoamerica were multilayered, species-rich, and adaptive. This session asks how less studied plants contributed to these anthropogenic landscapes (perhaps even as keystone species), what economic roles they played, and how such plants also factored, on a more ideological level, into visual and textual communication systems. Each participant takes up the task of considering visual, textual, and/or archaeological evidence of a species or category of food/nonfood plants (other than maize or cacao). Papers will expand our understanding of how a diverse suite of wild and domesticated resources contributed to sustaining human life and relationships with non-human agents. By placing various time periods, subregions, and methodological frameworks in discussion with one another, this symposium will bridge the gap between humanistic and scientific discussions of less discussed but nevertheless invaluable plant resources.