Salt: White Gold of the Ancient Maya

1. Salt as a Maya Trade Good

1 Salt as a Maya Trade Good Although basic to daily human existence, salt was scarce in the southern Maya lowlands of Guatemala and Belize where the Classic period civilization developed between a.d. 300 and 900 (map 1.1). The prevailing interpretation is that salt was imported in bulk from the north coast of the Yucatan (Andrews 1983). Various researchers have argued that long-distance trade is usually restricted to limited quantities of precious goods, such as gold, copper, obsidian, and elite pottery vessels (Cowgill 1993; Tourtellot and Sabloff 1972; Wallerstein 1974). Even if we consider that long-distance trade is unusual for a bulk resource in preindustrial societies , there are exceptions.The extensive overland salt trade over the Sahara via Timbuktu used caravans of camels to transport bulk salt, and there are even cases of human porters each carrying loads of salt in Africa (Adshead 1992:20). Moreover, the ability of ancient Maya canoe traders to move cargo in coastal waters should not be underestimated. Certainly various ancient peoples living along the Mediterranean Sea developed thriving water commerce. However, recent fieldwork along the coast of Belize has documented closer sources of salt than those on the north coast of the Yucatan, calling into question the economic viability of importing northern Yucatan salt to the southern Maya lowlands during the height of the Late Classic civilization (a.d. 600–900). The Belizean salt sources have been reported at Northern River Lagoon , Salt Creek Lagoon, San Juan and Marco Gonzalez on Ambergris Cay,Watson’s Island and Placencia in the Stann Creek District, and Punta ⠊⠊⠊⠊⠊⠊ 2 / SALT Map 1.1. Maya Area, Showing Northern Yucatan and Coastal Belize Salt Zones. By Mary Lee Eggart. Salt as a Maya Trade Good / 3 Ycacos Lagoon (map 1.2; Braud 1996; Graham 1994; Graham and Pendergast 1989; Guderjan 1988; MacKinnon and Kepecs 1989; McKillop 1995a; Meighan and Bennyhoff 1952; Mock 1994). Could the ancient Maya of coastal Belize have produced enough salt to meet the needs of the Classic period Maya of the southern lowlands of Belize and Guatemala? Alternatively, was some or most of the salt acquired from regional trade between the coast of Belize and the interior? These questions are addressed by research in Punta Ycacos Lagoon, in the Port Honduras of southern Belize. The Port Honduras is a coastal bight between the modern towns of Punta Gorda and Punta Negra in southern Belize. Punta Ycacos Lagoon is a large, shallow lagoon system at the northern end of the Port Honduras. Map 1.2. Belize, Showing Ancient Salt-Production Areas. By Mary Lee Eggart. 4 / SALT Wild Cane Cay also is located in the Port Honduras, and in former times the island’s inhabitants participated in coastal-inland trade as well as coastal canoe trade (McKillop 1987, 1989, 1996a, 2001). Several major rivers , including the Deep River, Golden Stream, and Middle River, as well as the smaller Seven Hills Creek, flow into the Port Honduras and, along with the Rio Grande to the south, would have provided canoe access to nearby Classic Maya inland cities, notably Lubaantun, Nim li punit, and Uxbenka. The salt works in Punta Ycacos Lagoon were discovered after fieldwork at Wild Cane Cay to investigate whether there were communities other than Wild Cane Cay in the Port Honduras and how they figured in trade. Excavation and analysis of the Punta Ycacos Lagoon salt works call for a reevaluation of long-distance trade in salt and underscore the importance of coastal-inland trade of salt and other maritime resources within the southern Maya lowlands. The Punta Ycacos salt works also provide an example of specialized, nondomestic work shop production away from the urban centers and instead located near the raw material source, in this case the sea. Goals and Objectives If the coastal Belize salt works produced enough salt to significantly reduce or replace long-distance salt import from the northern Yucatan coast to the southern Maya lowlands during the Late Classic period, then salt production must have been carried out in specialized work shops. This occupational specialization of salt production was arguably beyond the household level of organization: enough salt had to be produced to supply salt for inland trade as well as for local use. Since the Late Classic Maya were an advanced civilization, with evidence of occupational specialization of other tasks (Becker 1973; Foias and Bishop 1997; Fry 1980; Rands and Bishop 1980...