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Guzmán Mound: A Late Preclassic Salt works on south coast of Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2010

C. Roger Nance
C. Roger Nance
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-3350, USA
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Abstract

Salvage excavation of a small mound on the south coast of Guatemala revealed evidence of Late Preclassic salt production. Most potsherds are of a crude, thin-walled utility ware believed to have been used in evaporating salt water over fires. Level-by-level attribute analysis suggests evolution of a more efficient vessel form for this purpose. A typological study of fine ware and radiocarbon dating firmly position the mound chronologically. Charcoal was abundant; daub and elongated hearths probably figured in the technology. Also, the absence of edible plant remains and the scarcity of obsidian blades and animal bone add to the picture of a specialized, salt-producing locality. The represented salt-making technology is partially reconstructed using comparative ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and archaeological sources from southern Mesoamerica.

Resumen

Excavaciones de pequeña escala en el montículo Guzmán, localizado en una planicie salobre de la costa pacífica de Guatemala, han proporcionado evidencia de una salina del preclásico tardío. Los depósitos del montículo estaban llenos de revestimiento, carbón, y escamas de marga gris, que se consideran productos secundarios del procesamiento de sal cocida. La ausencia de hoyos de poste u otra evidencia de estructuras y la casi completa falta de restos de plantas y animales, así como implementos de piedra, apoyan la propuesta de una función económica especializado para este montículo. Se obtuvo una gran cantidad de tiestos, en su mayor parte vasijas con paredes delgadas, crudamente elaboradas, que probablemente eran empleadas para hervir la salmuera. Existe informatión etnorgráfica sobre el uso de cuencos burdos como moldes para la producción de sal cocida en Sacapulas, Guatemala. Estos cuencos son utilizados solamente una vez para hervir la salmuera, y son quebrados al terminar el proceso para extraer bloques sólidos de sal, que facilitan el comercio por no requerir recipientes. Las delgadas paredes de los tiestos Guzmán, la burda tecnologia empleada en su producción, y la gran cantidad de tiestos presente en el relleno del montículo, sugieren que un método similar se utilizó en la Costa Sur durante el preclásico tardío. El comercio de sal parece haber sido importante en esta época.

Una fecha del preclásico tardío para el monticulo Guzmán es indicada por fechas de radiocarbono y confirmada por la presencia de tipos cerámicos finos de la fase crucero. Se discute evidencia comparativa sobre salinas prehistóricas en la costa pacífica de Chiapas y Honduras, y en la costa de Belice.

Type
Articles
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , Spring 1992 , pp. 27 - 46
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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