Xibun Maya and the Luxury Economy within Classic-to-Colonial Mesoamerica

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Patricia McAnany and her colleagues will conduct four seasons of archaeological and paleoenvironmental research in the Sibun River Valley of Belize. Limited survey to date indicates that this well watered agriculturally rich valley was inhabited during the Classic Mayan period and the direct descendents of this group were described in Spanish colonial documents. Cacao, the basis for chocolate (and not cocaine), occurs wild in the region, constituted an important crop in colonial times and is cultivated today. In fact one of the two largest archaeological sites in the valley - the Hershey site - is so named because it is located in a cacao orchard previously owned by Hershey Foods. The goal of Dr. McAnany's research is to reconstruct the political economy of this region from Classic (ca. 800 AD) through colonial times and to accomplish this she, together with graduate and undergraduate students, will collect both archaeological and paleoecological data. The team will reconstruct vegetation history, carry out geomorphological and soil studies, excavate both open air and ritual cave sites and place these data in a geographic information system. Five transects have been chosen for survey and excavation and these will be supplemented by pollen and sedimentological data derived from cores drilled into a sample of oxbows lining the river. A study of current vegetation communities will provide a context within which to interpret the paleoenvironmental data. Approximately 7% of the structures encountered in the survey transects will be excavated and the artifacts thus recovered - especially luxury items such as jade and imported pottery - will provide insight into the degree of wealth and its distribution within the Sibun River Valley communities.Archaeological research in the lowland Mayan tropics has focused primarily on major centers which, based on reconstructed population size and impressive ceremonial architecture, served as primary centers. However it is also clear that hinterlands which contained valuable raw materials, such as cacao, interacted extensively with larger centers and were incorporated, to a greater or lesser extent into Classic Mayan kingdoms. However the degree and method of integration is both poorly understood and essential to reconstructing how the ancient Mayan world functioned. This project will provide a necessary and lacking view from the hinterlands and because the Sibun River Valley likely was an important prehistoric center for the production and export of cacao, it offers an excellent venue to examine center - periphery relations. The project includes both graduate and undergraduate students and thus also serves an important training function.