Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T14:48:20.927Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Formative-Period Subsistence and Forest-Product Extraction at the Yarumela Site, Honduras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

David L. Lentz ,
Carlos R. Ramírez  and
Bronson W. Griscom
David L. Lentz
Affiliation:
The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458, USA
Carlos R. Ramírez
Affiliation:
Lehman College, Department of Plant Sciences, City University of New York, Bronx, NY 10468, USA
Bronson W. Griscom
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Analysis of paleoethnobotanical remains from the Yaramela site in central Honduras has provided insights into subsistence activities, resource-extraction preferences from surrounding ecological zones, and the transfer of plant materials through interregional exchange networks during the Formative and Late Classic periods. Remains of maize (Zea mays) and squash (Cucurbita sp.) were found as well as the wood of a number of tree species, for example, pine (Pinus sp.), oak (Quercus sp.), fig (Ficus sp.), timber sweet (Licaria sp.), and guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum). These woods were obtained from the upland pine-oak savanna, the tropical deciduous forest of the Comayagua Valley, and the circum-riverine community along the Humuya River. In an unusual discovery, the wood of cashew (Anacardium cf. occidentale) was found in Middle Formative contexts. This, most likely an introduced domesticate from South America, appears to be the earliest record of Anacardium for Honduras. Paleoethnobotanical data along with root-processing artifacts indicate a diversified subsistence pattern based on domesticates of Mesoamerican and South American origin.

Type
Articles
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Spring 1997 , pp. 63 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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

Alcorn, Janis B. 1984 Huastec Mayan Ethnobotany. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Allen, Caroline K. 1948 Lauraceae: Flora of Panama, Part V, Fascicle 1. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 35:1–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baudez, Claude F. 1966 Niveaux céramiques en Honduras: Une reconsideration de l'evolution culturelle. Journal de la Société des Américanistes 4:299–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baudez, Claude F., and Becquelin, Pierre 1973 Archéologie de Los Naranjos, Honduras. Collection Etudes Mesoaméricaines, vol. 2. Mission Archéologique et Ethnologique Fran¸aise au Mexique, Paris.Google Scholar
Berlin, Brent, Breedlove, Dennis, and Raven, Peter 1974 Principles of Tzeltal Plant Classification: An Introduction to the Botanical Ethnography of a Maya-Speaking People of Highland Chiapas. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Bohrer, Versila L., and Adams, Karen R. 1977 Ethnobotanical Techniques and Approaches al Salmon Ruin, New Mexico. Contributions in Anthropology Vol. 8, No. 1. Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Bronson, Bennet 1966 Roots and the Subsistence of the Ancient Maya. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 22:251–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canby, Joel 1949 Excavations at Yarumela, Spanish Honduras. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Canby, Joel 1951 Possible Chronological Implications of the Long Ceramic Sequence Recovered at Yarumela, Spanish Honduras. Proceedings of the Twenty Ninth International Congress of Americanists 1:79–85.Google Scholar
Cliff, Maynard B., and Crane, Cathy J. 1989 Changing Subsistence Economy at a Late Preclassic Maya Community. In Prehistoric Maya Economies of Belize, edited by McAnany, Patricia A. and Issac, Barry L., pp. 295–324. Research in Economic Anthropology, supplement No. 4. JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.Google Scholar
Conzemius, Eduard 1932 Ethnographic Survey of the Miskito and Sumu Indians of Honduras and Nicaragua. Bulletin No. 106. Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Insitution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Crane, Cathy J. 1986 Late Preclassic Maya Archaeobotanical Remains: Problems in Identification, Quantification and Interpretation. Paper presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Détienne, Pierre, and Jacquet, Paulette 1983 Atlas d'identification des bois de L'amazonie el des régions vóisiones. Center Technique Forestier Tropical, Nogent-Sur Marne, France.Google Scholar
Dixon, Boyd 1989 Prehistoric Settlement Patterns on a Cultural Corridor: The Comayagua Valley, Honduras. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Boyd, Joesink-Mandeville, LeRoy R.V., Hasebe, Nobukatsu, Mucio, Michael, Vincent, William, James, David, and Petersen, Kenneth 1994 Formative-Period Architecture at the Site of Yarumela, Central Honduras. Latin American Antiquity 5:70–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, Z., and Baas, Pieter 1993 Wood Anatomy of Trees and Shrubs from China, V. Anacardiaceae. IAWA Journal 14:87–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, D. 1983 The Stone Tools of Yarumela and the Early Formative Period of Mesoamerica. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Fullerton.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V. 1976 The Early Mesoamerican Village. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, and Misksicek, Charles H. 1981 Ecology and Economy of a Formative Site of Cuello, Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:260–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, Paul F. 1984 The Archaeology of Honduras. In The Archaeology of Lower Central America, edited by Lange, Frederick W. and Stone, Doris Z., pp. 113–164. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth G. 1988 Beyond the Maya Frontier: Cultural Interaction and Syncretism Along the Central Honduran Corridor. In The Southeast Classic Maya Zone, edited by Boone, Elizabeth, pp. 297–334. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Joesink-Mandeville, LeRoy R.V. 1986 Proyecto Arqueológico Valle de Comayagua: Investigaciones en Yarumela Chilcal. Yaxkin 6:17–42.Google Scholar
Joesink-Mandeville, LeRoy R.V. 1987 Yarumela, Honduras: Formative Period Cultural Conservatism and Diffusion. In Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier, edited by Robinson, Eugenia, pp. 196–214. BAR International Series 327(i). British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Joesink-Mandeville, LeRoy R.V. 1993 Comayagua Valley. In Pottery of Prehistoric Honduras: Regional Classification and Analysis, edited by Henderson, John S. and Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn, pp. 234–248. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johannessen, Carl L. 1963 Savannas of Interior Honduras. Ibero-Americana No. 46. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Lawrence 1965 Archaeology and Domestication in American Phaseolus (Beans). Economic Botany 19:358–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, Lawrence 1967 Archaeological Phaseolus from Tehuacan. In Environment and Subsistence, edited by Byers, Douglas S., pp. 201–211. Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Lawrence, and MacNeish, Richard S. 1960 Prehistoric Bean Remains from Caves in the Ocampo Region of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Harvard University Botanical Museum Leaflets 19:33–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Nedenia C. 1986 The Periphery Problem and Playa de Los Muertos: A Test Case. In The Southeast Maya Periphery, edited by Urban, Patricia A. and Schortman, Edward M., pp. 179–193. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchoff, Paul 1963 The Caribbean Lowland Tribes: The Mosquito, Sumo, Paya and Jicaque. In The Circum-Caribbean Tribes, edited by Steward, Julian H., pp. 219–1229. Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 4. Cooper Square, New York.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., 1986 Ethnobotany of the Jicaque of Honduras. Economic Botany 40:210–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lentz, David L., 1989a Contemporary Plant Communities in the El Cajon Region. In Prehistoric Cultural Ecology, edited by Hirth, Kenneth G., Pinto, G. Lara, and Hasemann, George, pp. 59–94. Archaeological Research in the El Cajón Region, vol. 1. Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology No. 1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., 1989b Botanical Remains from the El Cajón Area: Insights into a Prehistoric Dietary Pattern. In Prehistoric Cultural Ecology, edited by Hirth, Kenneth G., Lara, G. Pinto, and Hasemann, George, pp. 187–206. Archaeological Research in the El Cajón Region, vol. 1. Memoirs in Latín American Archaeology No. 1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., 1991 Maya Diets of the Rich and Poor: Paleoethnobotanical Evidence from Copán. Latin American Antiquity 2:269–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lentz, David L., 1993 Medicinal and Other Economic Plants of the Paya of Honduras. Economic Botany 47:358–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lentz, David L., Aguilar, Maria Luisa Reyna de, Villacorta, Raul, and Marini, Helen 1996 Trachypogon plumosus (Poaceae, Andropogoneae): Ancient Thatch and More From the Cerén Site, El Salvador. Economic Botany 50:108–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lothrop, Samuel K. 1927 The Museum Central American Expedition: 1925–1926. In Indian Notes, pp. 12–32. Museum of the American Indian, The Heye Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Lunardi, Federico 1941 Los misterios del valle de Comayagua. Imprenta Calderón, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.Google Scholar
Lunardi, Federico 1948 Honduras maya: Etnología y arqueología de Honduras. Imprenta Calderón, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.Google Scholar
Manglesdorf, Paul, MacNeish, Richard S., and Galinat, W. 1967 Prehistoric Wild and Cultivated Maize. In Environment and Subsistence, edited by Byers, Douglas S., pp. 178–200. Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Mendez, Santiago 1921 The Maya Indians of Yucatán in 1861. In Reports of the Maya Indians of Yucatán, edited by Saville, M., pp. 143–195. Indian Notes and Monographs 9(3). Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1983 Macrofloral Remains of the Pulltrouser Area: Settlements and Fields. In Pulltrouser Swamp, edited by Turner, B.L. II and Harrison, P.D., pp. 94–104. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1991 The Ecology and Economy of Cuello. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Hammond, N., pp. 70–84. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H., Bird, R.McK., Pickersgill, B., Donaghey, S., Cartwright, J., and Hammond, N. 1981 Preclassic Lowland Maize from Cuello, Belize. Nature 289:56–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, John D. 1990 The Poisonous Anacardiaceae Genera of the World. Advances in Economic Botany 8:103–129.Google Scholar
Mitchell, John D., and Mori, Scott A. 1987 The Cashew and Its Relatives (Anacardium: Anacardiaceae). Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden Vol. 42. Bronx, New York.Google Scholar
Pearsall, Deborah M. 1989 Paleoethnobotany: A Handbook of Procedures. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Pendleton, Robert L. 1945 Some Important Soils of Central America. In Plants and Plant Science in Latin America, edited by Verdoorn, Frans, pp. 163–165. Chronica Botanica, Waltham, MA.Google Scholar
Popenoe, Dorothy 1934 Some Excavations at Playa de Los Muertos, Ulua River-Honduras. Maya Research 4:61–85.Google Scholar
Popenoe, Wilson 1920 Manual of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits. MacMillan, New York.Google Scholar
Roys, Ralph L. 1976 The Ethno-Botany of the Maya. Institute for the Study of Human Issues, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J. 1984 Lower Central America as Seen from Mesoamerica. In The Archaeology of Lower Central America, edited by Lange, Frederick W. and Stone, Doris Z., pp. 63–84. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Sheets, Payson D. 1984 The Prehistory of El Salvador: An Interpretive Summary. In The Archaeology of Lower Central America, edited by Lange, Frederick W. and Stone, Doris Z, pp. 85–112. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Smith, C. Earle Jr 1967 Plant Remains. In Environment and Subsistence, edited by Byers, Douglas S., pp. 120–260. Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, vol. 1. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Smith, C. Earle Jr 1980 Plant Remains from the Chiriqui Sites and Ancient Vegetation Patterns. In Adaptive Radiations in Prehistoric Panama, edited by Linares, Olga F. and Ranere, A. J., pp. 151–174. Peabody Museum Monograph No. 5. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Smith, C. Earle Jr 1986 Preceramic Remains from Guilá Naquitz. In Guilá Naquitz: Archaic Foraging and Early Agriculture in Oaxaca, Mexico, edited by Flannery, Kent V., pp. 265–274. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Squier, Ephraim G. 1855 Notes on Central America. Harper Brothers, New York.Google Scholar
Standley, Paul C. 1931 Flora of the Lancetilla Valley, Honduras. Publication No. 283, Botanical Series Vol. X. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standley, Paul C., and Steyermark, Julian A. 1946 Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany Vol. 24, Parts IV–V. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standley, Paul C., and Steyermark, Julian A. 1949 Flora of Guatemala. Fieldiana: Botany Vol. 24, Part VI. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Doris Z. 1957 The Archaeology of Central and Southern Honduras. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 49, No. 3. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Stone, Doris Z. 1972 Precolumbian Man Finds Central America. Peabody Museum Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Strong, William D., Kidder, Alfred II, and Paul, A. Drexel 1938 Preliminary Report on the Smithsonian Institution-Harvard University Expedition to Northwest Honduras. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 97(1). Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred M. 1941 Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 18. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Turner, B.L. II, and Miksicek, Charles H. 1984 Economie Plant Species Associated with Prehistoric Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Economic Botany 38:179–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uribe, Daniel C. 1988 La madera estudio anatómico y catálogo de especies mexicanas. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Von Hagen, Victor W. 1943 The Jicaque (Torrupan) Indians of Honduras. Indian Notes and Monographs No. 53. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York. Lancaster Press, Lancaster, PA.Google Scholar
Wauchope, Robert 1938 Modern Maya Houses: A Study of Their Archaeological Significance. Publication No. 502. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1984 A Summary of the Archaeology of Lower Central America. In The Archaeology of Lower Central America, edited by Lange, Frederick W. and Stone, Doris Z., pp. 341–378. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Williams, Louis P. 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
Yde, Jens 1938 An Archaeological Reconnaissance of Northwestern Honduras: A Report of the Work of the Tulane University-Danish National Museum Expedition to Central America in 1935. Levin and Munksgaard, Copenhagen.Google Scholar