Techniques for Integrating Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Datasets: Examples from Pre-Hispanic Northwestern Honduras

Morell-Hart, Shanti

doi:10.1080/00934690.2019.1591917

Cited by 12 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…None of the materials recovered from the matrix around burials are presumed to have been placed deliberately. Rather, it is assumed that they are in secondary or tertiary contexts, and incorporated into burial fill (detailed in Morell-Hart 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The paleoethnobotanical data from Puerto Escondido encompass nine kinds of contexts and five kinds of spaces, consisting of both light fraction macrobotanical samples analyzed by Cane (2001), and microbotanical extractions from obsidian artifacts and ceramic sherds analyzed by Morell-Hart (2011). The methods and reasoning for laboratory subsampling are outlined below.…”

Section: Plant Use At Puerto Escondido: Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The macrobotanical samples analyzed are light fractions from sediment flotations of 32 excavated loci (Table 1) collected during the 1995 field season, represent a total volume of approximately 64 L, and present a diverse selection of taxa (Table 2; Cane 2001; Morell-Hart 2011). Few taxa present could be identified due to poor preservation conditions, but botanical remains were classified as wood, parenchymous tissue, cupules from Zea mays , seeds, and other unidentifiable tissues.…”

Section: Plant Use At Puerto Escondido: Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lab processing of samples and identification of plants began in 2000, when Cane (2001) analyzed flotation samples from 32 excavation units processed in 1995. As part of her doctoral dissertation research, Morell-Hart (2011) included data from these 32 flotation samples, and also conducted research to recover phytoliths and starches from six pieces of worked obsidian. In postdoctoral research, Morell-Hart undertook analysis of an additional group of artifacts, including five additional chipped obsidian objects (for a total of 11 obsidian artifacts analyzed) and four ceramic sherds.…”

Section: Puerto Escondido: Archaeological Research Sample Contexts mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper uses the case study of Puerto Escondido, located in the lower Ulúa River valley of Caribbean coastal Honduras, to demonstrate how we can explore ethnoecology in Central America. It builds on the effectiveness of using multiple methods in concert to interpret ethnobotanical practice in the past (Morell-Hart 2011; Morell-Hart et al 2014). By examining chipped-stone tools, ceramics, sediments from artifact contexts, and macrobotanical remains recovered from Puerto Escondido (Henderson and Joyce 1998, 2004a, 2004b; Joyce and Henderson 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010, 2017), research on botanical practices “in the home,” such as foodways, medicinal practices, fiber crafting, and ritual activities, can be complemented by studies of practices “close to home,” such as agricultural and horticultural practices, forest management, and other engagements with local and distant ecologies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ethnoecology in Pre-Hispanic Central America: Foodways and Human-Plant Interfaces

et al. 2019

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In recent years, researchers in pre-Hispanic Central America have used new approaches that greatly amplify and enhance evidence of plants and their uses. This paper presents a case study from Puerto Escondido, located in the lower Ulúa River valley of Caribbean coastal Honduras. We demonstrate the effectiveness of using multiple methods in concert to interpret ethnobotanical practice in the past. By examining chipped-stone tools, ceramics, sediments from artifact contexts, and macrobotanical remains, we advance complementary inquiries. Here, we address botanical practices “in the home,” such as foodways, medicinal practices, fiber crafting, and ritual activities, and those “close to home,” such as agricultural and horticultural practices, forest management, and other engagements with local and distant ecologies. This presents an opportunity to begin to develop an understanding of ethnoecology at Puerto Escondido, here defined as the dynamic relationship between affordances provided in a botanical landscape and the impacts of human activities on that botanical landscape.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plant Use At Puerto Escondido: Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plant Use At Puerto Escondido: Research Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Puerto Escondido: Archaeological Research Sample Contexts mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ethnoecology in Pre-Hispanic Central America: Foodways and Human-Plant Interfaces

et al. 2019

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Archaeological Approaches to Agricultural Economies

Marston

2021

J Archaeol Res

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Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 1): Paleoethnobotanical Residues and New Perspectives on Plant Management

Morell-Hart¹,

Fedick

2022

J Archaeol Res

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We focus on pre-Columbian agricultural regimes in the Maya Lowlands, using new datasets of archaeological wood charcoal, seeds, phytoliths, and starch grains; biological properties of plants; and contemporary Indigenous practices. We address inherited models of agriculture in the lowlands: the limitations of the environment (finding more affordances than anticipated by earlier models); the homogeneity of agricultural strategies (finding more heterogeneity of strategies across the lowlands than a single rigid template); the centrality of maize in agriculture (finding more reliance on root crops and tree crops than historically documented); the focus on the milpa system as food base (finding more agroforestry, homegardening, horticulture, and wild resource management than previously documented); the dominance of swidden strategies in agricultural practices (finding more diverse practices than accounted for in most models); and the foregrounding of maize crop failure in collapse models (finding more evidence of resilience and sustainable agricultural practices than predicted).

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Techniques for Integrating Macrobotanical and Microbotanical Datasets: Examples from Pre-Hispanic Northwestern Honduras

Cited by 12 publications

References 54 publications

Ethnoecology in Pre-Hispanic Central America: Foodways and Human-Plant Interfaces

Ethnoecology in Pre-Hispanic Central America: Foodways and Human-Plant Interfaces

Archaeological Approaches to Agricultural Economies

Agriculture in the Ancient Maya Lowlands (Part 1): Paleoethnobotanical Residues and New Perspectives on Plant Management

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