Labor, Population Movement, and Food in Sixteenth-Century Ek Balam, Yucatán

Abstract

Spanish colonization of the Yucatán Peninsula altered traditional patterns of subsistence after Spaniards imposed labor demands and controlled the movement of indigenous Maya. Spaniards established an encomienda and Franciscan visita at Ek Balam in the northern lowlands of the peninsula during the mid-sixteenth century. Complementary forces of doctrina and encomienda fostered the religious, political, and economic subjugation of the Maya. An analysis of zooarchaeological material from an Early Hispanic period feature at the archaeological site of Ek Balam indicates that Spanish restrictions of population movement and restructuring of indigenous labor altered pre-Hispanic patterns of faunal use. Under Spanish hegemony, Maya residents raised small-sized animals of Eurasian origin, especially pigs and chickens, while maintaining the indigenous dog as a primary food source. The animals used at Ek Balam could have been either raised or hunted locally; there is no indication that animals were obtained through either trade or exchange. The pattern of faunal use by indigenous people at Ek Balam differs from Early Hispanic sites in the southern Maya lowlands and elsewhere in the circum-Caribbean. This contrast demonstrates that tropical environmental variability, population density, and Spanish control tactics affected subsistence behavior and the incorporation of introduced fauna in the indigenous diet.

The perduring Maya: new archaeology on early Colonial transitions

“…Hanson's (2008) study of artefacts from different Maya households at Colonial period Ek Balam (Figure 1) traces the community's introduction to the early capitalist system of the sixteenth century in Yucatán. A recent analysis of faunal remains from that site indicates that Maya residents reduced their hunting and consumption of indigenous faunal species, while adding several Eurasian species to their diet (deFrance & Hanson 2008). These data suggest that colonial authorities restricted the mobility of Maya residents and redirected their economic activities towards the production of commodities such as salt, lime, pottery and indigo.…”

Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica

“…The project found a large number of structures (approximately 75) with colonial period occupations (Hanson 2002, p. 377). Surveys located residences, watchtowers, kilns, cists, and other constructions (de France and Hanson 2008). Archaeologists mapped a simple ramada church, a friary, walkways, and a wall enclosing the church compound (Hanson 1995, p. 19).…”

“…116-118). Animal remains included deer, peccary, dog, turkey, pig, and chicken bones (de France and Hanson 2008).…”

“…The artifacts indicate that the Yucatec Maya at Ek Balam participated in the Mesoamerican world system and in the developing capitalist world economy (de France and Hanson 2008;Hanson 2002). The paucity of wild animals, including reptiles and fish, and the increase in Old World domestic species replacing them in the Maya diet indicate that hunting and fishing became less important or more restricted in the colonial period.…”

Disassembling cattle and enskilling subjectivities: Butchering techniques and the emergence of new colonial subjects in Santiago de Guatemala

“…Previous works on faunal remains from colonial archaeological contexts have generally focused on resource management and subsistence issues (Corona, 1996, 2012; deFrance and Hanson, 2008; Emery, 1999). Traditionally, zooarchaeological approaches to human–animal relationships often emphasize the overarching human control over beasts, at least implicitly (Russell, 2012: 266).…”