Mayflower Archaeology Project (MAP)

Excavations

Excavations for the 1997 season concentrated on the Mayflower Main Group area. Excavations occurred in three areas, Structure A-8 (Op 1 Subop 3), Structure A-11 (Op 1 Subop 2), and the plaza of Mayflower (Op 1 Subop 4). A preliminary account of all three excavations follows a list of units excavated in 1996 and 1997.

List of excavated units of the 1996 and 1997 seasons
The following is a list of excavated units from the 1996 and 1997 field seasons at Mayflower (site 428) and Maintzunun (site 427), accession number 10017.

The Mayflower project uses the operation, suboperation, lot system meaning that each general area (such as the main compound at Mayflower) is assigned an operation number, a more specific area (such as a particular building) is assigned a suboperation number, and each excavation unit (either an STP or each level of a 1 x 1 m or 2 x 2 m) is assigned one or more lots. Therefore lots will be unique to each suboperation of an operation (there will be several lot 4’s within an operation, but only one within a specific suboperation). Lots are not necessarily sequential to a unit’s levels (i.e. level 1 of one unit may be lot 1, but level 2 may be lot 4). This list is provenience oriented (e.g. N16 E18) and so the lots will not be sequential with the levels. Units are provenienced using the grid point located at the southwest corner of the excavation square and are operational specific, meaning that Op 1 uses one set of coordinates and Op 2 another.

Operation 1 (Mayflower main compound) Suboperation 1 (west of the Main Group, also referred to as "Parking Area") had 31 STPs excavated in the 1996 field season and no excavation units.

Operation 1 (Mayflower main compound) Suboperation 2 (Structure A-11) had 37 STPs excavated in 1996 and two excavation units opened in 1997.

N8 W25 was a 2 x 2 m unit that was excavated 30 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-3) and assigned lots 38, 39, and 40.

N9 W23 was a 1 x 1 m unit that was excavated 60 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-6) and assigned lots 41-46.

Operation 1 (Mayflower main compound) Suboperation 3 (Structure A-8) had 16 STPs excavated in 1996, three excavation units opened in 1996, and six excavation units opened in 1997. One unit, N198 E206, was begun in 1996 and was continued in 1997. The mapping scheme for Mayflower changed in 1997 and the new coordinates for this unit are S84.5 W0.5. In order to keep continuity, the N198 E206 provenience information continued in the 1997 field season. Thus, S84.5 W0.5 was referred to as N198 E206 throughout the field season. This is also the case with the 1 x 1.5 m extension of S84.5 W0.5 which was referred to as N198.5 E208. The new datum for this unit is S84 E1.5. The other two units opened in 1996 were N205 E198 and N206 E198, these units are now S77.5 W8.5 and S76.5 W8.5, respectively.

N198.5 E208 (S84 E1.5) was a 1.5 x 1 m unit that was excavated 90 cm in 3 natural levels (level 1 from 0-45 cm, level 2 from 45-66 cm, and level 3 from 66-90 cm). These levels were assigned lots 34, 46, and 47. In addition a 30 cm x 30 cm feature was excavated out in 2 levels from 45-66 cm (level 2) and 66-90 cm (level 3). These levels were assigned lots 44 and 45.

N198 E206 (S84.5 W0.5) was a 2 x 2 m unit that was excavated 90 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-8), with the exception of level 3 which was excavated 20 cm (20-40 cm). These levels were assigned lots 17, 19, 20, 23, 26, 28, 32, and 42. In addition at 53 cm an occupational floor was uncovered and excavated out as a 1 x 1 m unit in 3 natural layers from 53 to 80 cm (level 1 from 53-66 cm, level 2 from 66-70 cm, and level 3 from 70-80 cm, and assigned lots 37, 38, and 39). At 90 cm (20 cm below sterile) a 1 x 1 m unit (N198 E206) was excavated one meter (90-190 cm) in one level (level 9) and assigned lot 43.

N205 E198 (S77.5 W8.5) was a 1 x 2 m unit excavated 10 cm in one level and assigned lot 18.

N206 E198 (S76.5 W8.5) was a 1 x 2 m unit excavated 30 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-3) and assigned lots 21, 22 , and 24.

S85 W12 was a 2 x 2 m unit (with the exception of the last 20 cm dug as a 1 x 1 m) excavated 110 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-11) and assigned lots 48, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, and 61.

S85 W18 was a 2 x 2 m unit excavated 40 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-4) and assigned lots 30, 33, 36, and 40.

S91 W16 was a 2 x 2 m unit excavated 90 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-8), with the exception of the last 20 cm dug as a 1 x 1 m unit and excavated 20 cm, and assigned lots 25, 29, 31, 35, 41, 49, 50, and 53.

Operation 1 (Mayflower main compound) Suboperation 4 (Plaza area) had two excavation units opened in 1997.

S11 E14 was a 1 x 1 m unit excavated 10 cm in one artificial level and assigned lot 1.

S9 E13 was a 1 x 1 m unit excavated 60 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-6) and assigned lots 2-7.

Operation 2 (Maintzunun main compound) Suboperation 1 (Structure 1) had two excavations units opened in 1996.

N196 E204 was a 2 x 2 m unit excavated 10 cm in one artificial level and assigned lot 1.

N207 E216 was a 2 x 2 m unit excavated 20 cm in 10 cm artificial levels (1-2) and assigned lots 2 and 3.

Operation 2 (Maintzunun main compound) Suboperation 2 (plaza area) had one excavation unit opened in 1996.

N176 E186 was a 2 x 2 m unit excavated 44 cm in three natural layers (levels 1-3). Level 1 was 0-10 cm, level 2 was 10-36 cm, and level 3 was 36-44 cm. These levels were assigned lots 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

A map of all the excavated units should be forthcoming.

Structure A-8 (Op 1 Subop 3)
Excavations at Structure A-8 began in 1996 and continued in 1997. Given its location south and outside the Main Group of Mayflower, last season’s hypothesis was that A-8 was a residential structure, possibly domestic in use (e.g. kitchen area) that was associated with the Main Group. As it was outside the Main Plaza the alternative hypothesis was that it formed part of an entirely different plaza group. Excavations and mapping in 1996 confirmed its association with the Main Group based upon the lack of other mounds in the immediate vicinity, its orientation and access towards the Main Group, a borrow pit to the south (opposite the Main Group) and midden on its east side, and that there were no obstructions between it and the other mounds of the Main Group. The abundance of artifacts also indicated that it was residential and probably domestic. This season’s survey south of A-8 revealed no mounds that would have been associated with a separate plaza group for A-8. As one of the primary goals of MAP is to establish a ceramic typology for the area, excavations continued here this season.

Five units were excavated at A-8 in 1997, one of which was reopened from 1996 (see previous section on excavated units). Of these units, two were east of the structure, one west, one south, and one on top of the structure. The two eastern units and southern unit produced large amounts of cultural material while the units on top and to the west produced much less. Since additional mounds were found west and south of A-8, the western unit must have been in a traffic corridor and thus kept clean of large amounts of garbage. The southern and eastern units were located in areas that did not lead to other structures—good places to dump refuse (resulting in middens). The greatest difference in artifact distribution between the midden units (eastern and southern) and the other two units (western and on top of the structure) was in ceramic quantity. All units had an abundance of slate, daub, and carbon. As the slate is only found near structures (the plaza excavations revealed very little), the slate was probably used as a leveling device or flooring for a superstructure. This superstructure was probably made of waddle and daub given the high frequency of both daub and carbon. In addition most of the units encountered small burnt tree roots (5-10 cm in diameter) indicating that shortly after abandonment a fire swept through the area.

Of the five units, the eastern two and the one atop the structure encountered sterile soil about one meter below the surface. The unit on top of the structure showed no signs of an earlier construction, and the fill had very little in the way of cultural material. This would indicate that the earth used to construct the building was not taken from a midden or an area that had been previously occupied. In the eastern units only two stratigraphic levels were noted. The first level went from the surface down to the occupational floor and contained heavy amounts of artifacts. At the floor level was a pile of daub, a partially complete vessel, as well as a 30 cm in diameter hole dug 60 cm deep into the floor. The floor was only identified by the amount of debris sitting upon it rather than a layer of sand and/or compacted clay. The soil below this floor was sterile. While the amount of ceramics was numerous above the floor level, only about 5-10 different ceramic types were encountered.

Given that the fill of the structure is relatively devoid of cultural material, that only one occupational floor was encountered, and that not many different types of ceramics were encountered, it is a possible conclusion that the occupational history of A-8 (and perhaps all of Mayflower) was relatively short. Additional excavations of structures, in the Mayflower Main Group as well as in outlying areas, and formal ceramic analysis is still required to substantiate this claim.

(While this entire report is preliminary, this section on A-8 is extremely preliminary and has glossed over much information that will be forthcoming.)

Plaza Excavations (Op 1 Subops 2 & 4)
Excavations were undertaken in and around the Main Plaza area of Mayflower to obtain information concerning plaza floor construction phases, flooring material, and the overall state of floor preservation, as well as gaining a better understanding of occupational history at the site. Two areas were selected for investigation. A 1 x 1 m unit was placed in the center of the Main Plaza (Op 1 Subop 4) and two units were located at the base of Structure A-11 on its central axis (Op 1 Subop 2).

The test unit in the middle of the plaza (S9 E13) did not encounter any evidence of an intact floor. Graham, in her excavations at the base of Structure A-9 located the original plaza floor—a thin layer of sand mottled with pure red clay. No similar layer was found in the plaza unit. However, a layer of small pebbles was uncovered in level 3, approximately 20-30 cm below the present day surface. This may very well represent what is left of the ancient plaza surface. Between 40-60 cm below the surface sterile soil was encountered. Aside from the artifacts uncovered in this unit and the layer of small pebbles, no evidence of earlier occupation was uncovered.

A 2 x 2 m test unit (N8 W25) was excavated near the base of A-11 along the central axis of the structure to find the juncture of the plaza floor with the structure. After three levels the amount of wall fall became extremely dense and a 1 x 1 m extension unit (N9 W23) on the east side of the previous unit was opened to more easily find the plaza floor.

There was almost no evidence of wall fall in this new unit and approximately 60 cm below the surface, a layer of sand mixed with clay was uncovered. It is similar to the floor found by Graham near A-9 and we believe it was the original surface upon which Structure A-11 was constructed. Cultural material was found in all six levels of this 1 x 1 m unit. Time did not permit excavations below this floor level, but both the units will be reopened in 1998 to find the base of A-11 and the juncture with the plaza floor.

Evidence of floors near the structures and the lack of clear evidence of a floor in the center of the plaza may indicate that solid flooring was only needed in the high traffic areas near the buildings or as a leveling mechanism for the construction of the structures. Also, since the Mayflower area has been logged for hardwoods, served as a gmelina plantation, and now is subject to the encroachment of the banana fields to the east, it is possible that the 1000 years of bioturbation and other disturbances in the plaza has destroyed almost all evidence of any ancient floors. Additional test units near other structures in the Main Group as well as in the plaza are necessary to fully prove these ideas.

Looters Pit Recording Program
During the 1996 field season MAP initiated a survey and recording of looter’s pits (as well as previously excavated units) throughout the Mayflower area. In 1996 1:20 scale maps and photographs (B&W and color slides) of the looter’s pits were made of the mounds in the Main Plaza of Mayflower. This season with the aid of the laser transit these pits are now mapped. While a start, this program has only covered Mayflower’s Main Group and work still needs to be done at Maintzunun, T’au Witz, and the mounds outside the core group of the site. As new mounds are discovered, however, recording, photographing, and mapping of looters pits will occur.

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