Neglected Root Crops of the Prehispanic Maya

Summary

Root crops represent a major lacuna in the archaeological record of the Maya area and discussions of prehispanic Maya foodways in general. Only a handful of exceptional cases furnish direct evidence for the exploitation of root crops. Most notably at Ceren, the recent discovery of entire fields dedicated to manioc cultivation suggests that maize was not the only agricultural staple in this village community. Researchers working throughout the humid tropics have employed microbotanical analyses—phytoliths and starch—to overcome issues of preservation and reveal more detailed information about domestic plant economies, especially regarding root crops. Here I report the results of a systematic study of microbotanical remains from the Puuc Maya residential hilltop site of Escalera al Cielo (EAC). The remains include starch from at least three root crops—arrowroot, manioc, and Zamia sp.—that were processed with handheld grinding stones, in addition to abundant arrowroot phytoliths recovered from various domestic contexts. These new data from EAC demonstrate the tremendous potential of microbotanical studies, which can reveal the role of root crops in prehispanic Maya foodways, as well as larger-scale issues of local land management strategies.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage