Early Copán Acropolis Program 2000 Field Season

Archaeobotanical Analyses

The analysis of archaeobotanical samples is being conducted by Cameron McNeil to identify the plant resources utilized by Copán’s ancient inhabitants for food, building materials, rituals, and other uses. This study was supported by FAMSI in full during 1999, and in part by FAMSI Grant 99102 during 2000.  The samples utilized in this study were collected both in the course of the ECAP tunnel excavations and by McNeil as new samples collected in both 1999 and 2000.  The archaeobotanical samples include pollen washes (recovered by standard techniques from pottery vessels), flotation samples (recovered from excavation samples, mostly from activity areas), and dry residue samples collected from floors, pottery vessels, and similar contexts (McNeil, 2000).

All samples for botanical analysis were exported to the US with permission from the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, and during 2000 identifications were made at three different facilities. The majority are being analyzed by McNeil at the laboratory of David and Lida Burney at Fordham University, under the supervision of Dr. David Lentz of the New York Botanical Garden. Additionally, pollen wash samples from several Hunal Tomb vessels were sent to the Hershey Technical Laboratories in Hershey, Pennsylvania to be analyzed by Jeffrey Hurst to determine if any of the vessels originally contained cacao. Plans also call for samples to be analyzed by Robert Thompson at his University of Minnesota laboratory to identify food residues by recovering morphologically intact silica cells.

The results of plant identifications thus far are based on 40 pollen washes and 77 residue samples, reported by McNeil (2000). Most of the pollen washes examined thus far derive from Hunal and Margarita tomb vessels (31 samples), although a majority of these (19) are obscured by cinnabar contamination (see Table 4, below). Of the uncontaminated samples, two from Hunal have very sparse pollen content, and four samples contain pollen in quantities large enough to justify further analysis. These samples derive from three Hunal Tomb vessels along with one sample taken from beneath a Margarita Tomb vessel. Of these, the washes from Hunal Tomb vessels 9, 15, and 16 represent the greatest diversity of species. Vessel 15, contained primarily Asteraceae pollen (the daisy family). It is quite possible this pollen derives from flowers placed in the vessel as part of burial ritual activities, but of course it could also represent environmental fallout deposited prior to the placement of the vessel in the tomb. The other two vessels are twins with bean-like appliqué decorations, which could be representations of cacao. However, analysis of the vessel residues at the Hershey Technical Center did not identify cacao in these vessels (instead the results indicate traces of caffeine that could derive from another local plant species). But both vessels do contain virtually identical pollen signatures that probably reflect local environmental conditions. Since neutron activation results indicate these vessels have very different origins (VH-15 being local and VH-16 being from Central México; see Table 1), the fact that they have virtually identical pollen signatures indicates that their pollen content likely reflects Early Classic environmental conditions in the Copán Valley. Half of the pollen present in these vessels is from trees, representing a spectrum from the Rubiaceae, Bignoniaceae, Quercus, and Pinus tree groups. Herbs are also present in the Hunal vessels in the form of Asteraceae (daisies), Caryophyllaceae (carnation family), and Cheno/Ams (beet and amaranth families). There is also a large amount of grass pollen in the vessels as well as a small amount of pollen from various aquatic plants.

Apart from the pollen washes, McNeil is just beginning to examine the floor residue samples, but thus far her work verifies what had been concluded on the basis of excavation observations, namely that the Maya usually carefully cleaned the floors of their buildings before they were ritually terminated and buried under new architecture. Nonetheless, some floor samples seem to include sufficient pollen remains for further analysis. Of these, samples from the floor of Xucpi Structure, the temple building on the summit of the Margarita substructure, have thus far yielded the most promising indications. It is anticipated that these and the other archaeobotanical samples will be analyzed in the coming year.

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