Investigating Maya Soil Dynamics and Social
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SOIL IS SOCIAL: INVESTIGATING MAYA SOIL DYNAMICS AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION DURING CLIMATE CHANGE WITH X-RAY FLORESCENCE SPECTROMETRY ____________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Chico ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Anthropology ____________ by Jeffrey M. Bryant 2013 Fall 2013 PUBLICATION RIGHTS No portion of this thesis may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner unacceptable to the usual copyright restrictions without the written permission of the author. iii DEDICATION To my mother Barbara: For teaching me to love reading; To my sister Lacey: For feeding my imagination; And to Marisol: For having faith in me, And for convincing me to have faith in myself. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have been incredibly fortunate to have been given the support that I have received during this journey. I first wish to thank my committee members Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon, Dr. Jesse Dizard, and committee chair Dr. William Collins for giving my thesis the benefit of their wisdom and experience. I wish to thank Dr. Georgia Fox, who served as my chair during the proposal process in which the groundwork for the thesis was formulated. I need to give additional thanks Dr. Marisol Cortes-Rincon for mentoring me and allowing me to collect data with her in Belize. I wish to thank all of her the field school students and staff, the Programme for Belize Archaeology Project, Dr. Fred Valdez, and the Institute for Belize Archaeology. I am in the debt of Dr. Nick Brokaw and Sheila Ward for sharing soil data results and for providing me with subsamples for XRF analysis. I also need to thank Dr. Mitch Johns for providing consultation and review for the pedagogical conclusions of my data. I wish to conclude by thanking everyone else who has helped me along the way. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Publication Rights .............................................................................................................. iii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... v List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... xi Abstract ........................................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER I. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Background and Terminology............................................................. 1 Hypotheses and Testing Methods ...................................................... 3 Organization of the Document ........................................................... 5 Purpose of the Study .......................................................................... 6 II. Literature Review: Project Area ....................................................................... 9 The Program for Belize Archeology Project (PfBAP) ......................... 9 Three Rivers Region Cultural History ................................................. 16 Physiography and Climate .................................................................. 18 Ceramics and Relative Dating ............................................................. 24 Lithics ................................................................................................... 25 Population Density and Spatial Organization .................................... 28 III. Literature Review: Soils Archeology ................................................................ 32 Soils and People .................................................................................. 32 Soils and Sediment Formation............................................................ 34 vi CHAPTER PAGE Chemical and Physical Properties of Soil ........................................... 42 The Use of Soil in Archeology ............................................................. 45 Soils in Three Rivers Region ................................................................ 48 Ethnopedology .................................................................................... 55 IV. The Contemporary Maya Intellectual Renaissance ........................................ 56 The Role of the Archeologist .............................................................. 59 V. Theory ............................................................................................................... 63 Marxism ............................................................................................... 75 Gender ................................................................................................. 77 Environmental and Soilscape Theory ................................................. 79 VI. Methods ............................................................................................................ 82 Hypothesis One ................................................................................... 82 Hypothesis Two ................................................................................... 83 Soil Data Collection and Processing ................................................... 84 X-Ray Florescence Spectrometry ....................................................... 88 VII. Results ............................................................................................................... 92 Data Comparisons ............................................................................... 93 Hypothesis Conclusions ...................................................................... 115 VIII. Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................... 119 Discussion of Primary Results ............................................................. 119 Discussion of Secondary Results ........................................................ 133 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................... 143 References Cited ................................................................................................................ 147 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. The Rio Bravo Management Conservation area in its context in Central America .................................................................. 10 2. Dos Hombres. ....................................................................................................... 14 3. Gran Cacao. .......................................................................................................... 16 4. The East to West Topographic Cross-Section of the Rio Bravo Management Conservation Area ................................................. 20 5. General Utility Biface Identified on the DH2GC Transect. ................................. 27 6. Nearly Complete Obsidian Prismatic Blade ........................................................ 27 7. Settlement Viability Model. ................................................................................. 29 8. Platform X, Halfway Between Dos Hombres and Gran Cacao. .......................... 30 9. A Very Basic Flowchart of the Nutrient Cycle. .................................................... 39 10. Size Ratio of Sand, Silt, and Clay. ......................................................................... 43 11. pH Scale in Context of Environmental Zones. ..................................................... 44 12. Total Sodium Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. .......................................................................... 94 13. Total Phosphorous Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. .......................................................................... 98 14. Total Magnesium Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. .......................................................................... 96 15. Total Aluminum Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. ........................................................................... 97 viii FIGURE PAGE 16. Total Calcium Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. .......................................................................... 98 17. Total Barium Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. ............................................................................. 99 18. Total Sulfur Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. ........................................................................... 104 19. Total Manganese Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. ........................................................................... 105 20. Total Iron Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. ........................................................................... 106 21. Total Copper Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. ........................................................................... 106 22. Total Zinc Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic Sites. ........................................................................... 110 23. Total Potassium Comparison of Projected and Known Anthropogenic