Linking Past and Present: A preliminary paleoethnobotanical study of Maya nutritional and medicinal plant use and sustainable cultivation in the Southern Maya Mountains, Belize

Abstract

Paleoethnobotanical analysis of anthropogenic soils sampled from archaeological features dating to the Classic Maya Period (A.D. 250-900) reveal diagnostic phytoliths that help the authors bring to light evidence of a novel sustainable agricultural strategy and a variety of nutritional and medicinal plants that were utilized by the Classic Maya of the Maya Mountains, Belize, Central America. Given the archaeological context of these phytoliths, the authors infer that the plants from which they were derived were exploited by the Classic Maya of the region. These discoveries have the potential for improving health and wellness regionally in the present since the agricultural strategy that is reconstructed demonstrates an intensive means of cultivation that has the potential of sustaining large, dense populations. The nutritional and medicinal plants alluded to, in turn, provide further evidence in support of the utilization of traditional knowledge in sustaining community health and wellness. IntroductionIn recent years, the view of the ancient Maya, as imprudent exploiters of their environment with little regard for sustainability (e.g., Diamond 2005), has begun to change (Ford & Nigh 2009). Research has shown that the Maya lowlands during the Classic period (A.D. 250-900) were one of the most densely populated areas in the world (Fagan 2004:284). In some regions in the Maya lowlands, such as the southern Maya Mountains, population density estimates near 300 persons per squared kilometer (Abramiuk 1998). This estimate is quite staggering, especially if we consider that the people of this particular region had no efficient means for importing foodstuffs and therefore Published: June 30, 2011 Ethnobotany Research & Applications 258www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol9/i1547-3465-09-257.pdf

Everyday Knowledge and Apothecary Craft: Pharmacopoeias of Ancient Northwestern Honduras

“…As with studies of ecological sustainability, understanding human activities in the past has potential application to contemporary practice. Palaeoethnobotanical studies can help us to recover evidence of materia medica and even modes of processing, potentially amplifying current available treatments (similar to Abramiuk et al 2011;Carlson 2001;Lo et al 2015;Stepp 2018;Tu 2011;Valle et al 2018;Wilson & Hurst 2012). The persistence in the use of certain taxa over time can indicate pharmacological efficacy, as plants identified in archaeological contexts may have been used by practitioners over the long term due to demonstrable healing properties (following Lentz et al 1998).…”

“…The landscape of southeastern Mesoamerica presented a pharmacopoeia to ancient practitioners, through both cultivated and gathered materials (Abramiuk et al 2011; Kunow 2003; Stepp 2018). Medicinal plants currently thrive across diverse ecologies with long histories of anthropogenic intervention, and grow in environments that run the gamut from lightly transformed to highly managed (following Anderson 1995; Fedick 1996; Ford & Nigh 2010; McNeil 2012; McNeil et al 2010; Stepp 2018; author's personal observation).…”

“…In terms of root and tuber crops, I recovered various arrowroot family (Marantaceae) species, primarily as starch grains and phytoliths. Some arrowroot family species have been used as foods for invalids (Atran 1993), while arrowroot ( Maranta) and lerén ( Calathea) species have been utilized as medicine to treat a number of ailments (Abramiuk et al 2011; Anderson 2003; Balick & Arvigo 2015; Martin & Cabanillas 1976; Lentz 1993). Manioc ( Manihot esculenta ), recovered as starch grains, has also been ethnographically documented to have some medicinal use (Anderson 2003; Rico-Gray et al 1991), while plants in the sweet potato genus ( Ipomoea ) appear in Aztec codices as medicines (de la Cruz & Badiano 2000; de Sahagún 2012).…”

“…In ancient northwestern Honduras, it is likely that people incorporated medicine into daily and spiritual life in a variety of ways, involving the skill sets of highly trained specialists as well as the common everyday knowledge of non-specialists. There was probably no single paradigm of plant medicines, as specialist knowledge may have been kept secret and individual families may have manufactured their own remedies (similarly to Abramiuk et al 2011; Benítez et al 2018; Carlson 2001; Insoll 2011; Jennings et al 2015; Lo et al 2015; Stepp 2018; Totelin 2015; Zucconi 2019). The resultant variation from household to household, and community to community, is probably evidenced by different types of medicinal plants recovered from different household areas, as presented in this archaeological study.…”

Cuisine at the Crossroads

“…In the intervening years, the work of David Lentz at the Joya de Cerén and Aguateca sites has given us fine-grained views of foodways under conditions of rapid abandonment. Meanwhile, paleoethnobotanical work at a host of other Maya sites has provided insight into food practices (e.g., Cagnato and Ponce 2017;Lentz 1999;Lentz et al 1997;McKillop 1996;Morehart and Helmke 2008;Simms et al 2013), humanenvironmental relationships (e.g., Abramiuk et al 2011;Crane 1996;Hageman and Goldstein 2009;Lentz and Hockaday 2009;Lentz et al 2012;McNeil 2012;McNeil et al 2010;Pohl et al 1996;Sheets et al 2011Sheets et al , 2012 Trabanino García 2008García , 2012aWyatt 2008), and ritualized practices (e.g., Bozarth and Guderjan 2004;Goldstein and Hageman 2010;Lentz et al 2005;McNeil 2006;Morehart and Butler 2010;Trabanino García and Núñez 2013).…”