Prey Choice and Politics: Modelling Postclassic Maya Wood Selection at La Punta, Chiapas, Mexico

Summary

How did Postclassic Maya communities decide which tree species to harvest for firewood and timber in a diverse forest environment? Most studies of ancient tree selection have used the principles of optimal foraging to construct a baseline of expectations for interpreting archaeological charcoal datasets. This paper will explore the implications of such a model on the interpretation of wood charcoals from the site of La Punta in Chiapas, Mexico, while also considering how the political structure of Postclassic Maya society could have influenced the resource gathering behavior reflected in the data. La Punta is one of several contemporaneous Postclassic Maya sites located along the shores of Lake Tziba’na in the Metzabok nature reserve in Chiapas, Mexico. In 2014, excavations in its public central plaza encountered terminal deposits of charcoal, ceramic, and animal bone. The charcoal from this communal context will be compared to charcoals found in domestic contexts elsewhere at the Metzabok sites to understand if (and how) wood selection strategies varied significantly based on context.

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): 22104