Archaeobotany in Northwestern Belize and the Mesoamerican Ethnobotanical Database

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 2" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeobotanical studies in northwestern Belize were facilitated by the acquisition of a Flote-Tech A flotation machine by Dr. Fred Valdez, Jr. for the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project. This machine allowed for the quick and consistent processing of samples and helped create broader opportunities to study ancient plant use than had been traditionally found in lowland Maya archaeology. Research enabled by this technology subsequently revealed a lack of appropriate plant identification resources suitable for archaeological use. The author and colleagues have since addressed this in collaboration with the Field Museum, and supported by NSF. What began with a flotation machine has resulted in the Mesoamerican Ethnobotanical Database, an online plant identification resource that includes digital images, common names, and local uses, and is available to any researcher with an internet connection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 2

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53225