In Too Deep: Excavations of a Partially Inundated Ancient Maya Salt Works at Wiz Naab, Paynes Creek National Park, Belize

Summary

Underwater survey and excavation in a large salt water lagoon between 2004 and 2013 revealed ancient Maya wooden buildings with briquetage—the broken pots from evaporating brine in pots over fires to make salt. Unexpected in the tropical landscape of Belize, the wooden buildings were preserved below the sea floor in mangrove peat, which created an anaerobic matrix. Elsewhere, historically and in modern times, the salt content of the brine was enriched by pouring it through salty soil—reducing fuel needs. The Paynes Creek salt works are underwater, so that any mounds of soil at the underwater sites would have been deflated by wave action. In 2012, excavations were carried out in an earthen mound at the Witz Naab site in the mangroves. The purpose was to determine if the mound resulted from the leaching process—perhaps providing an analog for the now submerged salt works. Trenching revealed the lower levels of Witz Naab mound were inundated, but that most of the mound was above water, providing evidence for its use. We evaluate whether the stratigraphic evidence within the mound is discarded soil from brine enrichment, remains of a residence, or a non-residential structure.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Geoarchaeology of Submerged, Intertidal, And Wetland Places: Advances In Method And Theory of Prehistoric Archaeology Underwater 2015 -- Part 2   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage