A Paleoethnobotanical Analysis of Ceramic Residues from Caches and Burials at the Lowland Maya Site of Holtun, Guatemala

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Holtun: Investigations at a Preclassic Maya Center" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Among the Maya, plant-based foods were not just important for sustenance but also had ritual meaning, especially emphasized when placed in graves and caches. Food offered during ritual performances created a reciprocal relationship between living individuals, their ancestors, and the gods. This paper presents the paleoethnobotanical results from the examination of seven ceramic sherds from the Preclassic through the Terminal Classic periods (800 BC–AD 900) associated with burial and cache offerings from the lowland Maya site of Holtun, Guatemala. Each whole vessel fragment was subjected to starch analysis, a method used to determine plant taxa on a microscopic level, as well as high-performance liquid chromatography and Raman spectroscopy to test for cacao residues. The identification of crops aside from the usual suspects like maize and cacao, such as manioc, yam, and malanga, suggests evidence of a complex ritual diet of the residues at Holtun. Although poor preservation can result from the environmental conditions of the Maya Lowlands, the results gathered from the preliminary starch and chemical residue analyses at Holtun indicate our ability to recover diverse plant remains from archaeological contexts and illuminates possible patterns of grave and offering types, social class, and variety in ritual diet.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Holtun: Investigations at a Preclassic Maya Center   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39041.0