ZooMing through the Maya: An Approach to Assess Mammal Diversity in Lamanai and Marco Gonzalez (Belize)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mammals are an essential part of the jungle world surrounding the Maya, both for their cosmovision and subsistence. Their identification in the archaeological record is essential to understand their complex role. This work, as a proof of concept, tested the application of Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) in Maya sites of Lamanai and Marco Gonzalez (Belize). ZooMS results revealed the higher diversity of mammals in inland Lamanai by presenting seven mammal species whereas only five—and all shared with Lamanai—occur on the coastal site of Marco Gonzalez. ZooMS indicated a high misidentification rate for small fragments through traditional zooarchaeology. Species identified through ZooMS are not necessarily the most common represented in either site. Finally, this work proved that the challenging preservation of tropical areas was not an obstacle to good results since the preservation stage did not determine the collagen yield. We argue that, beyond identification, the technique can be used as a biodiversity indicator, as a tool to compare iconography of animals and their actual use, as a complement to morphological identifications by traditional zooarchaeology, and as evidence of the lack of correlation between preservation and collagen yield. ZooMing in is only possible by ZooMing out.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32729