Paynes Creek Salt Works: Ten Field Seasons of Underwater Maya Survey, Mapping, and Excavations

Summary

The unexpected discovery of wooden buildings preserved in the mangrove peat sediment below the sea floor in Paynes Creek National Park, southern Belize, provided an opportunity to re-evaluate the nature of salt production in the ancient Maya economy and the nature of ancient Maya wooden architecture. Innovative techniques based on shallow underwater survey elsewhere were used to systematically search in a salt-water lagoon system for wooden structures and associated briquetage—the pottery used to evaporate brine over fires to make salt. The first phase of field research included survey and total station mapping of over 4000 posts and associated artifacts by a team of LSU grad and undergrad students and the author. The second phase of field research brought in specialists for mangrove sediment coring and palynology, sonar using an automated research vessel specially-designed for shallow water, and a drone for low-level photography. This phase also included transect excavations at 10 underwater salt works to investigate production and other activities by LSU grad and undergrad students and the author. A pilot study in 2015 included diving deeper sites that also included shell middens, but had been inaccessible to the field teams using Research Flotation Devices (RFDs).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Beyond the Shore: The Underwater Maya Project, Paynes Creek National Park, Belize.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage