Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T09:37:01.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ancient Manioc Agriculture South of the Ceren Village, El Salvador

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Payson Sheets ,
David Lentz ,
Dolores Piperno ,
John Jones ,
Christine Dixon ,
George Maloof  and
Angela Hood
Payson Sheets
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0233 (sheetsp@colorado.edu)
David Lentz
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221
Dolores Piperno
Affiliation:
Program in Human Ecology and Archaeobiology, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC 20560, and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Republic of Panama
John Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164
Christine Dixon
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0233
George Maloof
Affiliation:
Instituto Costariccense de Electricidad, San José, Costa Rica
Angela Hood
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH 45221
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The role of seed crops in the Maya diet is well understood. The role of root crops in the ancient Maya diet has been controversial, with some scholars suggesting they were staples, and others arguing they were not cultivated at all. Research in the 1990s found occasional manioc plants in kitchen gardens within the Classic period Cerén village, leading to the interpretation that manioc did contribute to the diet, but was not a staple. Recent research outside the village encountered sophisticated raised-bed monocropping of manioc over an extensive area. This area was harvested essentially all at once, about a week prior to the eruption. An estimated ten tons of tubers were harvested. The various uses of manioc include consumption as food, exchange with other settlements, fermentation, drying and storage as a powder, and as an adhesive. It is possible that many or all these alternatives were being followed. At Cerén manioc was a staple, not just an occasional adjunct to the diet. Because Cerén is toward the wet end of the ideal range for manioc cultivation, other areas of the Neotropics that receive less than 1,700 mm of precipitation may be more suitable for manioc cultivation than Cerén.

Es probable que en la zona maya el cultivo intensivo de maíz y su consumo se remonten al periodo Preclásico Medio. No obstante, su importancia en la dieta maya está bien determinada desde el período Clásico hasta hoy. En oposición, la importancia del cultivo de raíces en la dieta de los antiguos mayas ha sido polémica. Dada la escasez de evidencia directa de su cultivo, proceso, y consumo, muchos arqueólogos han expresado incertidumbre sobre su papel en la dieta maya. Algunos de ellos han sugerido que las raíces no eran cultivadas en absoluto. En el otro extremo, hay quienes sugieren que su cultivo fue un componente dominante de la dieta. En el caso específico de la mandioca, hay quienes piensan que fue introducida al área maya desde el Caribe por los españoles. Durante nuestras investigaciones arqueológicas en el sitio de Cerén, en El Salvador, hemos contado con la ventaja del excepcional estado de preservación de los elementos enterrados por la ceniza de la erupción del volcán Loma Caldera, ocurrida cerca del año 630 d.C. En nuestras primeras excavaciones encontramos algunas pocas plantas de mandioca en los huertos de las casas del pueblo, lo que nos llevó a interpretar que sus tubérculos se cosechaban individualmente para ser incorporados en la dieta de forma ocasional. En esta etapa nuestra comprensión de la mandioca era escasa y pensamos que dicho tubérculo no era una parte importante de la dieta, y que sólo contribuía con unas cuantas calorías. En nuestras investigaciones más recientes, realizadas unos 200 m al sur del asentamiento arqueológico, encontramos un sofisticado monocultivo de mandioca sobre un área extensa, practicado sobre un sistema de amplios camellones. En contraste con el estilo de cosechar en los huertos caseros dentro del pueblo, en esta área de monocultivo, la producción completa de mandioca se cosechó en un sólo evento, una semana antes de la erupción del volcán Loma Caldera. Estimamos que se obtuvieron hasta diez toneladas de tubérculos con el procedimiento de arrancar la planta completa, jalándola por la base del tallo. Con esta técnica la mayor parte de los tubérculos de cada planta habrían sido recogidos de un sólo tirón, aunque algunas ramificaciones se habrían roto durante el proceso y permanecido enterradas en los camellones. Estos tubérculos desprendidos se descompusieron en el campo, dejando impresos su forma y volumen en huecos que fueron preservados por el depósito de ceniza volcánica. Cuando encontramos dichas oquedades, las llenamos con yeso dental por lo que se conservarán perpetuamente. Un tubérculo de mandioca se descompone en pocos días después de su cosecha. Por ello los agricultores de Cerén tuvieron pocas alternativas para procesar esta gran cantidad de mandioca. Es probable que una parte de la cosecha se haya consumido en la comunidad, pero un pequeño asentamiento de entre 100 a 200 personas no habría podido consumir una gran cantidad de tubérculos en tan corto tiempo. Es también posible que cierta porción de la cosecha se hubiera transportado rápidamente a otros pueblos o a los mercados de los centros regionales cercanos. Dos centros regionales con mercados se localizan respectivamente unos 5 km al sur y al norte de Cerén. Una posibilidad más es que los agricultores de Cerén hayan procesado la mandioca hacia un polvo que llaman almidón, el cual puede almacenarse por tiempo indefinido mientras se mantenga seco. Otra cantidad de mandioca pudo haberse fermentado para ser consumida como bebida alcohólica durante la ceremonia de la primera cosecha del asentamiento, la cual se vio interrumpida por la erupción volcánica. Hemos identificado que una ceremonia de primicias, quizás una versión de la ceremonia maya tradicional “Cuch”, estaba en marcha en la Estructura comunitaria 10. Con estos nuevos hallazgos, la mandioca de Cerén ya no puede considerarse únicamente como un suplemento dietético ocasional sino como un cultivo primario. Cerén se localiza en una franja de alta precipitación, que no es la más ideal para el cultivo de mandioca. Esto nos hace pensar que otras áreas de la zona maya, así como otras regiones neotropicales de México y Centroamérica, con precipitaciones menores a 1500 mm, hayan sido más propicias para el cultivo de la mandioca de lo que fue en Cerén. Para contrarrestar la alta precipitación, los antiguos cultivadores de Cerén preparaban sus camellones para el cultivo de mandioca con una pendiente de entre seis y 10° que facilitaba su desagüe.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , September 2012 , pp. 259 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn 2002 Ceramics and Their Use at Cerén. In Before the Volcano Erupted: The Cerén Village in Central America, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 117–138. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Black, Kevin 1983 The Zapotitan Valley Archaeological Survey. In Archeology and Volcanism in Central America: The Zapotitan Valley of El Salvador, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 62–97. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bozarth, Stephen 1987 Diagnostic Opal Phytoliths from Rinds of Selected Cucurbita Species. American Antiquity 52:607–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronson, Bennet 1966 Roots and the Subsistence of the Ancient Maya. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 22:251–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, Vaughn M. Jr., Holloway, Richard G. Jones, John G., and Carlson, David L. 1994 Pollen Preservation in Alkaline Soils of the American Southwest. In Sedimentation of Organic Particles, edited by Alfred Traverse, pp. 47–58. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cock, James 1982 Cassava: A Basic Energy Source in the Tropics. Science 218:755–762.Google Scholar
Crane, Cathy 1996 Archaeobotanical and Palynological Research at a Late Preclassic Maya Community, Cerros, Belize. In The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, edited by Scott Fedick, pp. 262–277. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick, and Rice, Don (editors) 1990 Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Cutler, Hugh C., and Whitaker, Thomas W. 1961 History and Cultivation of the Cultivated Cucurbits in the Americas. American Antiquity 26:469–485.Google Scholar
DeBoer, Warren 1975 The Archaeological Evidence for Manioc Cultivation: A Cautionary Note. American Antiquity 40:419–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Landa, Bishop Diego 1938 Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. Edición Yucateca, Mérida.Google Scholar
Dickau, Ruth, Ranere, Anthony, and Cooke, Richard 2007 Starch Grain Evidence for the Preceramic Dispersals of Maize and Root Crops into Tropical Dry and Humid Forests of Panama. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104:3651–3656.Google Scholar
Dixon, Christine C. 2007 Classic Period Maya Agriculture: Test Pits 1 and 2, 5 and 6. In Joya de Ceren 2007 Preliminary Report, edited by Payson Sheets. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder.Google Scholar
Dixon, Christine C. 2009 Manioc Agriculture. In Report of the 2009 Maya Agriculture Project South of Joya de Cerén, El Salvador, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 50–82. Electronic document, http://www.colorado.edu/Anthropology/people/biosdocuments/2009ReportJoyadeCeren.pdf, accessed January 16, 2011.Google Scholar
Dufour, Darna 1994 Cassava in Amazonia: Lessons in Utilization and Safety from Native Peoples. Acta Horticulturae 375:175–182.Google Scholar
Dull, Robert, Southon, John, and Sheets, Payson 2001 Volcanism, Ecology, and Culture: A Reassessment of the Volcan Ilopango TBJ Eruption in the Southern Maya Realm. Latin American Antiquity 12:25–44.Google Scholar
Dull, Robert, Southon, John, Kutterolf, Steffen, Freundt, Armin, Wahl, David, and Sheets, Payson 2010 Did the Ilopango TBJ Eruption Cause the AD 536 Event? Paper presented at the American Geophysical Union conference, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Evans, Susan 2008 Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. Thames & Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Fedick, Scott (editor) 1996 The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent 1982 Preface. In Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston, edited by Kent Flannery, pp. xvii–xxii. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Girard, Rafael 1952 El Popol-Vuh, fuente historica. Editorial del Ministers de Educatión Pública, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, and Miksicek, Charles H. 1981 Ecology and Economy of a Formative Maya Site at Cuello, Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:260–269.Google Scholar
Hather, Jon, and Hammond, Norman 1994 Ancient Maya Subsistence Diversity: Root and Tuber Remains from Cuello, Belize. Antiquity 68:330–335.Google Scholar
Henry, Amanda, Hudson, Holly, and Piperno, Dolores 2009 Changes in Starch Grain Morphologies from Cooking. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:915–922.Google Scholar
Hoist, Irene, Moreno, J.Enrique., and Piperno, Dolores R. 2007 Identification of Teosinte, Maize, and Tripsacum in Mesoamerica by Using Pollen, Starch Grains, and Phytoliths. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:17608–17613.Google Scholar
Hutson, Scott, Stanton, Travis, Magnoni, Aline, Terry, Richard, and Craner, Jason 2007 Beyond the Buildings: Formation Processes of Ancient Maya Houselots and Methods for the Study of Non-architectural Space. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26:442–473.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L. 1991 Maya Diets of the Rich and Poor: Paleoethnobotanical Evidence from Copan. Latin American Antiquity 2:269–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lentz, David, Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn, de Aguilar, María Reyna, and Kaplan, Lawrence 1996 Foodstuffs, Forests, Fields, and Shelter: A Paleoethnobotanical Analysis of Vessel Contents from the Céren site, El Salvador. Latin American Antiquity 7:247–262.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., and Ramírez-Sosa, Carlos R. 2002 Cerén Plant Resources: Abundance and Diversity. In Before the Volcano Erupted: The Ancient Cerén Village in Central America, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 33–42. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., Woods, Sally, Hood, Angela, and Murph, Marcus 2012 Agroforestry and Agricultural Production of the Ancient Maya at the Chan Site. In Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community in Belize, edited by Cynthia Robin, pp. 89–112. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Lewenstein, Suzanne 1987 Stone Tool Use at Cerros: The Ethnoarchaeological and Use-wear Evidence. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Maloof, George O. 2009 Platforms, Walkways & Other Cleared Areas. In Report of the 2009 Maya Agriculture Project, South of Ceren, El Salvador, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 34–49. Electronic document, http://www.colorado.edu/Anthropology/people/bios/documents/2009ReportJoyade-Ceren.pdf, accessed June 2, 2011.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1982 The Plant World of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Lowland Maya. In Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston, edited by Kent Flannery, pp. 239–274. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles 1991 The Natural and Cultural Landscape of Preclassic Cuello. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Norman Hammond, pp. 70–84. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Morley, Sylvanus 1946 The Ancient Maya, lst ed. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Olsen, Ken M. 2002 Population History of Manihot esculenta (Euphorbiaceae) Inferred from Nuclear DNA Sequences. Molecular Ecology 11:901–911.Google Scholar
Olsen, Ken M., and Schaal, Barbara 1999 Evidence on the Origin of Cassava: Phylogeography of Manihot esculenta . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 96:5586–5591.Google Scholar
Pearsall, Deborah M. 2000 Paleoethnobotany: A Handbook of Procedures. 2nd ed. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Pearsall, Deborah M., Chandler-Ezell, Karol, and Chandler-Ezell, Alex 2003 Identifying Maize in Neotropical Sediments and Soils Using Cob Phytoliths. Journal of Archaeological Science 30:611–627.Google Scholar
Perry, Linda 2005 Reassessing the Traditional Interpretation of “Manioc Artifacts in the Orinoco Valley of Venezuela. American Antiquity 16:409–126.Google Scholar
Piperno, Dolores 2006 Phytoliths: A Comprehensive Guide for Archaeologists and Paleoecologists. AltaMira, Lanham, Maryland.Google Scholar
Piperno, Dolores, and Pearsall, Deborah M. 1998 The Origins of Agriculture in the Lowland Neotropics. Academic Press, San Diego, California Google Scholar
Piperno, Dolores, Ranere, Anthony, Hoist, Irene, and Hansell, Pat 2000 Starch Grains Reveal Early Root Crop Horticulture in the Panamanian Tropical Forest. Nature 407:894–897.Google Scholar
Pohl, Mary, Pope, Kevin, Jones, John, Jacob, John, Piperno, Dolores, DeFrance, Susan, Lentz, David, Gifford, John, Danforth, Marie, and Josserand, Kathryn 1996 Early Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Latin American Antiquity 7:355–372.Google Scholar
Pope, Kevin, Pohl, Mary, Jones, John, Lentz, David, von Nagy, Christopher, Vega, Francisco, and Quitmyer, Irvy 2001 Origin and Environmental Setting of Ancient Agriculture in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica. Science 292:1370–1374.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert, with Traxler, Loa 2006 The Ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.Google Scholar
Sheets, Payson 2002 Summary and Conclusions. In Before the Volcano Erupted: The Ancient Cerén Village in Central America, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 197–206. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheets, Payson 2006 The Ceren Site: An Ancient Village Buried by Volcanic Ash in Central America. 2nd ed. Thomson Wadsworth, Belmont, California.Google Scholar
Sheets, Payson 2009 Considerations, Summary, and Conclusions. In Report of the 2009 Maya Agriculture Project, South of Joya de Ceren, El Salvador, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 121–125, Electronic document, http://www.colorado.edu/Anthropology/people/bios/documents/2009ReporUoyade-Ceren.pdf, accessed June 2, 2011.Google Scholar
Sheets, Payson, Dixon, Christine, Blanford, Adam, and Guerra, Mónica 2007 Descubrimientos de investigaciones geoffsicas y arqueológicas al sur de Joya de Cerén. El Salvador Investiga 3(6): 20–26.Google Scholar
Sheets, Payson, Dixon, Christine, Guerra, Mónica, and Blanford, Adam 2011 Manioc Cultivation at Ceren, El Salvador: Occasional Kitchen Garden Plant or Staple Crop? Ancient Mesoamerica 22:1–11.Google Scholar
Sheets, Payson, and Woodward, Michelle 2002 Cultivating Biodiversity: Milpas, Gardens, and the Classic Period Landscape. In Before the Volcano Erupted: The Ancient Ceren Village in Central America, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 184–191. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Standley, Paul C., and Steyermark, Julian A. 1949 Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany Vol. 24, Part 6. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Stevens, John, and Catherwood, Frederick 1841 Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. Harper & Brothers, New York.Google Scholar
Tetlow, Andrew P., and Hood, Angela N. 2009 Classic Period Maize Agriculture South of Joya de Cerén. In Report of the 2009 Maya Agriculture Project South of Joya de Cerén, El Salvador, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 9–33. Electronic document, http://www.colorado.edu/Anthropology/people/biosdocuments/2009ReportJoyadeCeren.pdf, accessed January 16, 2011.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1958 Thomas Gage's Travels in the New World. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Wilken, Gene 1971 Food-producing Systems Available to the Ancient Maya. American Antiquity 36:432–148.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon 1982 Dennis Edward Puleston (1940–1978): Maya Archaeologist. In Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston, edited by Kent Flannery, pp. 1–15. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Williams, Louis O. 1981 The Useful Plants of Central America. Ceiba 24(1–2): 1–342.Google Scholar
Wisdom, Charles 1940 The Chorti Indians of Guatemala. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar