[Aztlan] Mesoamerican fire

[Elaine Schele]

Nick,

What an excellent post! It reminds us of how language, archaeology,
iconography, ethnography and knowledge of the natural world can be
combined to understand the the behavior of ancient people.  The
benefits of the multi-disciplinary approach is demonstrated once
again.

Elaine

On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 4:17 PM, Nick Hopkins <nhopkins at mailer.fsu.edu> wrote:
> Mario-- There is fire-drilling depicted in the Mayan Codices as well
> as the Mexican ones mentioned by Sam Edgerton.  Judging from modern
> practice, they would also have started fires with sparks from flint.
> A widely used kindling would have been heart of pine (also used for
> torches).  This must have been traded widely, because even out of the
> pine zone, the syllabic sign ta (from tah 'pine') is frequently a
> bundle of pine splints, just like the ones sold in markets today
> (e.g., San Cristobal and other Chiapas towns).  And it is likely that
> Classic Maya made the same divisions of firewood that the modern Maya
> do, distinguishing kindling (pine is prototypical) from the hardwoods
> that are better firewood for heat and long-lasting flames (oak being
> the preferred firewood).  Other hardwood charcoals have been found in
> cave deposits, along with pine charcoal from torches and kindling.
>
> Nick Hopkins
>
> On Dec 16, 2008, at 2:42 PM, Mario F. Malo wrote:
>
>> Hello to all;  Some help in this matter would be greatly
>> appreciated: How did Mesoamerican peoples make fire and what fuel
>> was used to keep the fires going?  Sincerely, Mario F. Malo
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