[Aztlan] More on intensive manioc production by the Maya

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

Lloyd Anderson posted an abstract from archaeology.org the other day  
about the intensive use of manioc as a staple crop by the Maya.  
EurekaAlert has more on the discovery posted today.

At the Maya site of El Ceren in El Salvador, buried and preserved  
under a layer of ash that destroyed the site 1,400 years ago, Boulder  
researchers found a large manioc field. It had been harvested just  
days before the eruption. This is the first and only evidence of  
intensive manioc cultivation in the New World. Manioc pollen has been  
found in Belize, Mexico and Panama but not intensive cultivation  
proof. Manioc grows well in poor soils and is drought resistant unlike  
corn, beans and squash. There was more manioc harvested than could be  
consumed by the villagers. The manioc fields are constructed as family  
plots. The team is now looking at other Maya sites for signs of  
intensive manioc production.

Perhaps some of the surplus manioc was ground into powder for  
tortillas and for making alcohol as the Maya indigenous today do with  
manioc.

The team also found a structure with a colorful deer headdress, an  
alligator pot, deer bones and lots of food items which appear to have  
been distributed to the villagers. The people of El Ceren appear to  
have fled to this structure for religious protection when the volcano  
erupted since no bodies have been found in their adobe homes. No human  
remains have been found so far.

EurekAlert has the report here;
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/uoca-css061609.php

To access the scientific report on the 2009 field season at Ceren go  
to http://www.colorado.edu/anthropology/projects/documents/2009ReportJoyadeCeren.pdf 
.

Mike Ruggeri

Mike Ruggeri's Maya Archaeology News and Links
http://tinyurl.com/atpsd9