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Multi-Proxy Analysis of Plant use at Formative Period Los Naranjos, Honduras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Shanti Morell-Hart ,
Rosemary A. Joyce  and
John S. Henderson
Shanti Morell-Hart
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2034 ([email protected])
Rosemary A. Joyce
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley CA 94720-3710 ([email protected])
John S. Henderson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853
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Abstract

Paleoethnobotanical analyses of samples excavated at Los Naranjos, Honduras, provide an unprecedented record of the diversity of plants used at an early center with monumental architecture and sculpture dating between 1000 and 500 B.C. and contribute to understandings of early village life in Mesoamerica. Los Naranjos is the major site adjacent to Lake Yojoa, where analysis of an important pollen core suggests very early clearing of the landscape and shifts in the relative prevalence of certain plants over time, including increases in maize. Our results from starch grain, phytolith, and macrobotanical analysis complicate interpretation of previous pollen core dates, suggesting that maize was not as central as expected to the early inhabitants of the settlement. Moreover, with identification of macrobotanical remains recovered from flotation of sediments and extraction of microbotanical remains from adhering sediments and the surfaces of obsidian tools, we can compare the potential of each analysis in interpretations of plant use. No single method would have allowed recovery and identification of all the plants documented across sample types. The presence of botanical residues on the obsidian tools provides direct evidence of processing. Even in the small sample analyzed, we can recognize tools used exclusively for culinary processing, tools used only for non-culinary tasks, and multi-purpose tools.

Resumen

Resumen

Estudios paleoetnobotdnicos practicados en muestras obtenidas por flotatión de suelos y de investigaciones de residuos en artefactos de obsidiana, proveen datos nuevos sobre el uso de plantas en el período Formativo de Mesoamírica, y contribuyen al entendimiento de la complejidad del uso de plantas, la importancia relativa de maíz, y las ventajas del uso de metodologías múltiples para detectar materiales botánicos en sitios arqueológicos. Las muestras vienen de excavaciones en el sitio de Los Naranjos, Honduras, un centro de constructión de arquitectura monumental y de escultura monumental entre 1000 y 500 años A.C. Los Naranjos se localiza en la margen del Lago de Yojoa, donde hace tiempo se obtuvo y analizó una muestra de polen. Con base en los datos de polen y en modelos generates de agricultura mesoamericana, la expectativa de estudios de plantas ha puesto un énfasis sobre el maíz desde 1000 A.C. en adelante. Nuestros datos sugieren algo mas complicado, con la presencia de maíz pew sin calabazas y con muy bajafrecuencia defrijoles, añadidos a una muestra amplia de rakes comestibles, productos de arboles, y el uso de plantas para otros fines además de los culinarios. Por lo menos en este caso debemos utilizar modelos mas matizados y basados en métodos múltiples, para entender mejor el uso de plantas durante los primeros siglos del desarrollo de las sociedades complejas en Honduras, y probablemente, en otras partes de la región. En particular, señalamos la importancia imprevista de productos de palmas, y el amplio rango de tubérculos procesados con las herramientas examinadas.

Type
Microbotanical and Multi-Proxy Analysis
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 65 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2014

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