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Excavations and Interpretation of Two Ancient Maya Salt-Work Mounds Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2015 Excavations and Interpretation of Two Ancient Maya Salt-Work Mounds, Paynes Creek National Park, Toledo District, Belize Rachel Mariah Watson Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Watson, Rachel Mariah, "Excavations and Interpretation of Two Ancient Maya Salt-Work Mounds, Paynes Creek National Park, Toledo District, Belize" (2015). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1579. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1579 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. EXCAVATIONS AND INTERPRETATION OF TWO ANCIENT MAYA SALT- WORK MOUNDS, PAYNES CREEK NATIONAL PARK, TOLEDO DISTRICT, BELIZE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by Rachel M. Watson B.A., Louisiana State University, 1996 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1999 August 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A portion of this research was made possible by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1026796 to H. McKillop, K. McKee, H. Roberts, and T. Winemiller under permits from the Belize government Institute of Archaeology. Additional field research support was provided by Louisiana State University, via the Robert C. West Graduate Student Research Grant program of the LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology. Soil chemistry analysis was supported by a Grant-In-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society and was conducted at Laboratory for Anthropogenic Soils Research at the University of South Florida. I appreciate the hospitality and friendship of our host family in the field, John Spang and Tanya Russ. I am grateful to Chantae Rudie and David Susko for their assistance during the field season. A special thanks to the mounds excavation crew Patrick Vines and John Young. Your humor and hard work made this research possible. A special thanks to Dr. E. Cory Sills and Valerie Feathers for your advice, field, and lab assistance, and more importantly your friendship. I would like to acknowledge Dr. Charles “Chip” McGimsey, Pam Breaux, Phil Boggan, and my other Louisiana of Division of Archaeology colleagues without whose support continuing my goal of achieving my doctorate would not be possible. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of Dr. Heather McKillop and my family. Heather has been my academic, archaeological mentor, and friend. Her field school at Wild Cane Cay helped me realize that I wanted to pursue archaeology as a professional. I would like to thank my family: Marcus, Thomas Lee Ann, Peyton, and Dylan. Finally, I cannot express how important my parents, Maurice “Blue” Watson and Terry Watson, who never wavered in their support of my career as an archaeologist. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 History of the Project ....................................................................................................... 2 Hypotheses and Model Discussion .................................................................................. 4 Leaching Mounds ............................................................................................................ 5 Residential Platforms ....................................................................................................... 6 Administrative\Ritual Structure ....................................................................................... 8 Multi-Function Platform .................................................................................................. 8 Overview of Maya Trade Models .................................................................................... 8 Salt Specific Trade Models ............................................................................................ 10 Ancient Maya Strategies for Salt ................................................................................... 14 Solar Evaporation .......................................................................................................... 15 Fire Evaporation ............................................................................................................ 16 Identified Maya Sites in Research Area ........................................................................ 17 Earthen Mounds ............................................................................................................. 18 The Paynes Creek Salt Works ....................................................................................... 18 Overview of Fieldwork and Analysis ............................................................................ 19 Ceramic Analysis ........................................................................................................... 22 Loss-on ignition ............................................................................................................. 22 Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) Analysis of Soils ............ 23 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 24 References Cited ............................................................................................................ 28 CHAPTER 2: BRINE ENRICHING SLAG HEAPS OR MOUNDED REMAINS OF SALT MAKERS HOMES? EARTHEN MOUNDS IN THE MANGROVES AT THE PAYNES CREEK SALT WORKS ................................................................................................... 34 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 34 Leaching Mounds for Concentrating Brine ................................................................... 34 Residential Platforms ..................................................................................................... 38 Administrative Structure................................................................................................ 39 Multi-Functional Platform ............................................................................................. 39 Witz Naab Excavation ................................................................................................... 40 Killer Bee Excavation .................................................................................................... 43 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 45 References Cited ............................................................................................................ 47 CHAPTER 3: A FILTERED PAST: INTERPRETING THE TECHNOLOGY OF ANCIENT MAYA SALT PRODUCTION AND TRADE FROM TWO REMNANT BRINE ENRICHMENT MOUNDS AT THE PAYNES CREEK SALT WORKS, BELIZE. ..... 51 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 51 The Importance of Salt to the Ancient Maya ............................................................... 53 Methods of Salt Production .......................................................................................... 54 Models of Maya Salt Trade in Southern Belize ........................................................... 58 iii Stratigraphy of Witz Naab and Killer Bee ..................................................................... 62 Witz Naab ................................................................................................................... 62 West Wall Profile .................................................................................................. 63 North Wall Profile................................................................................................. 64 East Wall Profile ................................................................................................... 64 Killer Bee ................................................................................................................... 65 Ceramic Analysis of Witz Naab and Killer Bee ............................................................ 65 Determining the organic content of Witz Naab and Killer Bee Soil ............................ 66 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 68 References Cited ............................................................................................................ 76 CHAPTER 4: TRACES OF THE PAST: ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL SIGNATURES FROM TWO MOUNDS AT THE ANCIENT MAYA SALT WORKS, PAYNES CREEK NATIONAL PARK, BELIZE. ..............................................................................................................
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