Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize by Mary Deland Pohl

Author:Mary Deland Pohl [Pohl, Mary Deland]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367010607
Google: BVdHyQEACAAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-08-28T20:31:42+00:00

Artifacts

Waterlogged conditions at San Antonio resulted in the preservation of unique wooden objects. Excavators found a large quantity of wood in the agricultural zone of 2J and its extension 2P (Figure 8.12). In Pit 2JA, archaeologists uncovered the points of two stakes (Figure 8.13a, b), their ends penetrating the gleyed clay (Unit X). The radiocarbondated hewn fig (Ficus) post lay in a similar stratigraphic position with its tip also touching gleyed clay (Figures 8.5 and 8.11).

Excavators found the pile of wood particularly dense around the juncture of Units VII and VI. The Late Preclassic tan chert axe (Figure 9.4), with traces of battering and chipping along its edges, lay amid the branches. We see nothing in the present disposition of the branches to indicate a fish weir as Miksicek (Chapter 10) suggests.

Other out posts occurred in similar stratigraphic positions in Pit 2B. One post of polewood (Xylopia) from Unit IX (Figure 8.4) originally had a shaped point. Another of turtiebone (Pithecellobium), taken from Unit VI (Figure 8.13d), was cut at one end and burnt at the other. These wooden artifacts and the pile of branches were largely confined to Pits 2B and 2J. They did not occur in the agricultural zone in 2W, 2X, 2Y,or 2Z.

A unique decorated paddle (Figure 8.14) made of myrtle wood (Myrtaceae) lay horizontally on the surface of the peat in Unit VI of Pit 2B. The object was complete in the ground, but unfortunately during excavation a workman chopped it up thinking that it was a root. The little paddle would appear too small for use in cultivating fields or propelling a canoe, and its function is a mystery. Perhaps it belonged to a young, apprentice farmer.

Figure 8.13. Wooden artifacts from Operation 2 (North): a, b: stakes from Unit IX, Pit 2JA; c: polewood (Xylopia) post from Unit IX, Trench 2B; d: turtlebone (Pithecellobium) post from Unit VI, Trench 2B. Measurements (cm): a: 45.0 long; 7.5 wide, b: 13.0 long; 4.7 wide; 4.5 thick, c1: 20.5 long, c2: 6.2 long, d: 13.7 long; 8.7 wide; 7.1 thick. (Artifact illustrations and measurements taken from Puleston's field catalogue; not drawn to same scale.)

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