The Piedras Negras Project: Preliminary Report of the 2000 Field Season

In the Land of the Turtle Lords:
Archaeological Investigations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala
Stephen Houston, Héctor Escobedo, Mark Child, Charles Golden, Richard Terry, and David Webster

Miscellaneous Studies and Reconnaissance

Osteological work continued apace, addressing the 37 burials in the 2000 field season and the 71 found in previous seasons. As a sample the stature estimates (n=4 from prior analyses, excluding this year) indicate unusual height, approximately 10 cm. above the Classic Maya average (Scherer and Yoder, 2000). This differential in height is less likely to be genetic than a result of adequate diet and reduced environmental pressures during adolescence, which, nonetheless, existed alongside a high degree of stress during childhood as marked by a high rate of enamel defects. The skeletal sample demonstrates a comparatively high rate of caries and anemia, similar to the patterns in the Petexbatún but unlike those in Belize. Pending further isotopic analyses, this would tentatively suggest a high-maize diet. Another striking attribute is the possibility of manioc consumption. About 30% of the individuals show lingual wear on the maxillary teeth, a pattern of attrition consistent with pulling sweet manioc across the teeth during ingestion. Accordingly, further work will search for manioc phytoliths in dental calculus.

Soil and environmental studies supplemented research in previous seasons, with routine use as a prospection device in all residential areas of the site. The soil landscape was studied through time by means of pits placed at regular intervals across and along the valley investigated intensively by members of the surburban excavation team. One pit showed decisive evidence of a buried soil horizon or agricultural surface not far from Brecha Sur 25 (Operation 26A). Pits up the sides of the valley unveiled thin soil unsuited to intensive cultivation. The beginnings of a vegetation sample was retrieved from over 50 species of flowering plants, to be compared with material floated by Jensen from most middens at the site. The soils team accompanied by Golden and Alejandro Guillot also traveled to the area of the Arroyo Macabilero, just across from the major subsidiary center of El Cayo (Aliphat, 1994). Earlier reconnaissance by Edwin Shook and the University Museum project had found near-megalithic terracing, although the locations noted by these explorers proved to be misleading. Several hills near the river were so-terraced, from which tests retrieved Early and Late Classic materials. Each hill appeared to be occupied by one patio group, with terracing extending up to the hill-tops probably for agricultural purposes. Interestingly, where a hill faced the Usumacinta river, the patio group tended to be as far from the water as possible. Where the hill bordered on the secluded Macabilero, the patio group was as close to the stream itself as possible given the topography. While this is not a representative sample of settlement in the area it may hint at the desire to be protected from possible threats coming down the Usumacinta in a region central to conflicts between Piedras Negras and Yaxchilán. One lake proved to have an island with a single mound that may have been separated from the mainland by the Maya themselves. Pits further inland, in a seasonally inundated savannah, suggested seasonal discharge and stratigraphic "banding" that might be useful to future analysts of the ancient environment in this ecologically distinct zone. Forceful streams flowed even in the height of the dry season. The Macabilero was as crystal clear as streams such as the Arroyo Pucte, a tributary of the Pasión River visited by Houston in 1988.  The occurrence of abandoned guerrilla camps in the area underscored the continued attractiveness of this setting.

Previous Page  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Page

Return to top of page