The Columbian Exchange in the Maya/Spanish Borderlands: A Zooarchaeological and Isotopic Tale of Resistance and Repurposing

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Columbian Exchange Revisited: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives on Eurasian Domesticates in the Americas" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The introduction of Eurasian domesticates in the Americas significantly changed the Maya domestic economy during the early colonial period (AD 1535–1700). However, this change was heterogenous in scale across the Maya world. While areas under Spanish control quickly adopted chickens and pigs, borderland communities were not so inclined. In this study, we present zooarchaeological, isotopic, and archival data from the Maya lowlands to showcase how Indigenous communities rejected or appropriated European domesticates on their terms. Our zooarchaeological data suggest that, after contact, borderland Maya communities continued to rely on local fauna and did not make pigs, chickens, and cows pillars of their domestic economy. Of the few Eurasian domesticates found at these sites, the isotope data reveal they were raised locally or regionally. In some contexts, the elite repurposed Eurasian animals for status display and ritual, continuing to imbue meaning specific to the Maya culture to animal resources. We compare our results to zooarchaeological studies in other peripheral regions, such as the American Southwest. Overall, this study provides critical insight into processes of resilience and resistance concerning animal resource exploitation in Indigenous spheres under Spanish colonialism.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Columbian Exchange Revisited: Archaeological and Anthropological Perspectives on Eurasian Domesticates in the Americas   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38085.0