Botanical analysis of sediments in offerings and fill at Tenochtitlan’s Great Temple

Summary

In this paper, botanical remains in sedimentological samples from offerings and fill are analyzed for biological identification. Seeds, fibers, resins, and other vegetal structures recovered using Struever’s floatation technique, modified by members of the Paleobotanical and Paleoenvironmental Laboratory, in the Institute of Anthropological Research (IIA), at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), yielded propagules, charred bits of textiles, copal, thorn fragments, splinters, and faunal matter such as micromollusks, ostracods, shark dermal denticles, etc. Taxonomic identification was conducted through comparison with present-day examples and specialized literature. Our modest results indicate the presence of cultivated plants such as squash, chia, maize, and gourd, along with a large variety of seeds of natural, particularly lacustrine deposition, mainly reeds and bulrushes. The cultigens reveal intentional deposition of some taxa (squash, chia, gourd), as well as copal, which derives from tribute. Finally, the lacustrine plants associated with micromollusks and ostracods inform us about the biome surrounding Tenochtitlan five centuries ago.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• The Seventh Field Season of the Proyecto Templo Mayor: Recent Investigations on the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan

Keywords

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