Dugout Canoe: A Solution for Bulk Transport in Mesoamerica

Summary

This is an abstract from the "What’s Canoe? Recent Research on Dugouts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In a cultural area where geography conspires against ease of exchange, Mesoamerican societies discovered technical answers adapted to their needs. At a time when the exchange of merchandise and goods relied mainly on human transport, some civilizations such as the Olmecs, Mayas, and Mexicas turned to accessible, high-performance waterways. Monoxyle canoes seem to have met all technical, economic, political, social, and ritual expectations. Based on ethnohistorical, archaeological, and ethnographic data, I propose to shed some light on the particular case of bulk transport, in which these monoxyle canoes played a primordial role.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• What’s Canoe? Recent Research on Dugouts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38398.0