Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A University of Colorado at Boulder team has uncovered an ancient
and previously unknown Maya agricultural system -- a large manioc
field intensively cultivated as a staple crop that was buried and
exquisitely preserved under a blanket of ash by a volcanic eruption
in present-day El Salvador 1,400 years ago.
Evidence shows the manioc field -- at least one-third the size of a
football field -- was harvested just days before the eruption of
the Loma Caldera volcano near San Salvador in roughly A.D. 600,
said CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Payson Sheets, who is
directing excavations at the ancient village of Ceren. The
cultivated field of manioc was discovered adjacent to Ceren, which
was buried under 17 feet of ash and is considered the best
preserved ancient farming village in all of Latin America.
The ancient planting beds of the carbohydrate-rich tuber are the
first and only evidence of an intensive manioc cultivation system
at any New World archaeology site, said Sheets. While two isolated
portions of the manioc field were discovered in 2007 following
radar work and limited excavation, 18 large test pits dug in spring
2009 -- each measuring about 10 feet by 10 feet -- allowed the
archaeologists to estimate the size of the field and assess the
related agricultural activity that went on there.
Sheets said manioc pollen has been found at archaeological sites in
Belize, Mexico and Panama, but it is not known whether it was
cultivated as a major crop or was just remnants of a few garden
plants. "This is the first time we have been able to see how
ancient Maya grew and harvested manioc," said Sheets, who
discovered Ceren in 1978.
Ash hollows in the manioc planting beds at Ceren left by decomposed
plant material were cast in dental plaster by the team to preserve
their shape and size, said Sheets. Evidence showed the field was
harvested and then replanted with manioc stalk cuttings just a few
days before the eruption of the volcano.
A few anthropologists have suspected that manioc tubers -- which
can be more than three feet long and as thick as a man's arm --
were a dietary salvation for ancient, indigenous societies living
in large cities in tropical Latin America. Corn, beans and squash
have long been known to be staples of the ancient Maya, but they
are sensitive to drought and require fertile soils, said
Sheets.
"As 'high anxiety' crops, they received a lot of attention,
including major roles in religious and cosmological activities of
the Maya," said Sheets. "But manioc, which grows well in poor soils
and is highly drought resistant did not. I like to think of manioc
like an old Chevy gathering dust in the garage that doesn't get
much attention, but it starts right up every time when the need
arises."
Calculations by Sheets indicate the Ceren planting fields would
have produced roughly 10 metric tons of manioc annually for the 100
to 200 villagers believed to have lived there. "The question now is
what these people in the village were doing with all that manioc
that was harvested all at once," he said. "Even if they were
gorging themselves, they could not have consumed that much."
The CU-Boulder team also found the shapes and sizes of individual
manioc planting ridges and walkways varied widely. "This indicates
the individual farmers at Ceren had control over their families'
fields and cultivated them they way they wanted, without an
external higher authority telling them what to do and how to do
it," he said.
The team also found that the manioc fields and adjacent cornfields
at Ceren were oriented 30 degrees east of magnetic north -- the
same orientation as the village buildings and the public town
center, said Sheets. "The villagers laid out the agricultural
fields and the town structures with the same orientation as the
nearby river, showing the importance and reverence the Maya had for
water," he said.
The volcano at Ceren shrouded adobe structures, thatched roofs,
house beams, woven baskets, sleeping mats, garden tools and grain
caches. The height of the corn stalks and other evidence indicate
the eruption occurred early on an August evening, he said.
Because it is unlikely that the people of Ceren were alone in their
intensive cultivation of manioc, Sheets and his colleagues are now
investigating chemical and microscopic botanical evidence at other
Maya archaeological sites that may be indicators of manioc
cultivation and processing.
Sheets said Maya villagers living in the region today have a long
tradition of cutting manioc roots into small chunks, drying them
eight days, then grinding the chunks into a fine, flour-like powder
known as almidón. Almidón can be stored almost indefinitely, and
traditionally was used by indigenous people in the region for
making tamales and tortillas and as a thickening agent for stews,
he said.
Since indigenous peoples in tropical South America use manioc today
to brew alcoholic beverages, including beer, the CU-Boulder team
will be testing ceramic vessels recovered from various structures
at Ceren for traces of manioc. To date, 12 structures have been
excavated, and others detected by ground-penetrating radar remain
buried, he said.
Sheets is particularly interested in vessels from a religious
building at Ceren excavated in 1991. The structure contained such
items as a deer headdress painted red, blue and white; a large,
alligator-shaped painted pot; the bones of butchered deer; and
evidence that large quantities of food items like meat, corn, beans
and squash were prepared on-site and dispensed to villagers from
the structure, said Sheets.
Ceren's residents apparently were participating in a spiritual
ceremony in the building when the volcano erupted, and did not
return to their adobe homes, which excavations showed were void of
people and tied shut from the outside. "I think there may have been
an emergency evacuation from the ceremonial building when the
volcano erupted," he said. To date, no human remains have been
found at Ceren.
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University of Colorado at Boulder
Thanks to University of Colorado at Boulder for this
article.