Assessing Botanical Diversity of Late-to-Terminal Classic Households at Xunantunich, Belize

Summary

Understanding household plant use can provide a wealth of data about subsistence practices, past agricultural systems, and strategies used to mitigate climatic stress. Plant use may also vary between households. By examining this variation, botanical data may yield further information on personal preference and cuisine differences between households. Aside from consumption for subsistence, plants were used for a wide range of activities conducted by individual households. Botanical datasets may reveal other activities such as fertilization of garden plots or ritual activities.

This paper examines the botanical diversity found in Late-to-Terminal Classic households near the site of Xunantunich in Belize. The paper discusses on-going research at the site and focuses on macrobotanical analysis of activity areas. The results are part of a larger research design combining both macrobotanical and microbotanical data which seeks to overcome some of the biases that are inherent in single methods of analysis. By incorporating macrobotanical and microbotanical remains, a wide range of plant remains will be represented that may be absent from carbonized assemblages alone. The paper further discusses a comparison of machine-assisted flotation versus the washover method for processing flotation samples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21373