Constructing Perspectives for the Application of Wood Charcoal Analysis in Kiuic, Yucatán, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Bolonchen Regional Archaeological Project: 25 Years of Research in the Puuc" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological investigations in the Bolonchen district have as one of their goals the understanding of the variation of the natural resource exploitation by the ancient settlers in the region. An approach that has been a relevant for reconstruction of the landscape and prehispanic forest management is provided by the archaeobotanical data, and specifically the analysis of wood charcoal preserved in archaeological contexts (anthracology). In the north of Yucatán there are still few anthracological research studies, due to both the excavation strategies and preservation conditions of carbon. The lack of carbon research in the northern Maya Lowlands compared to central Maya Lowlands could have an effect in the interpretation of forest management in the Puuc region. In this sense, it was proposed to conduct an anthracological analysis for the site of Kiuic. The methodology consists in the construction of a data base of recovered carbon fragments from soil samples collected during the 20 years of excavations in Kiuic and the definition and selection of contexts with carbon fragments with optimal conditions of preservation for taxonomical identification. This presentation discusses the contexts with good carbon fragments that was recovered so far, and the sociocultural implications for past forest management reconstruction.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• The Bolonchen Regional Archaeological Project: 25 Years of Research in the Puuc

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38176.0