Early Mesoamerican Social Transformations: Archaic and Formative Lifeways in the Soconusco Region

3. Evidence for the Diversity of Late Archaic and Early Formative Plant Use in the Soconusco Region of Mexico and Guatemala

47 require are always available and close to hand and so take less planning to use than others. Some can be taken opportunistically—for example , walking along a trail to show a couple of archaeologists a shell mound deep in the estuary , one may find a large turtle and easily scoop it up, lash some vines around it to convert it into a living handbag, and carry it home to the family ’s stew pot.1 Other resources need a greater investment in technology: fishing, for example, often requires expertly made nets, a dugout canoe or two, and the coordination of a fishing crew of five or more friends and relatives. And some resources, such as plant crops, require a sustained effort and investment in land clearing , seeding, weeding, and protection from browsers if one is to have any expectation of benefiting from all this work and planning. A perennial question in Mesoamerican archaeology has been this: what was the changing nature of this mix of productive activity over the entire course of human history in the region? This broad question has remained compelling because its answer has been tantalizingly close but exasperatingly elusive at the THE PROBLEM: MAKING A LIVING IN A RICH ENVIRONMENT All of us who have worked and lived in the Soconusco region would agree that it is a land of plenty. As in many tropical regions in the Americas , it is a land where fence posts take root and sprout branches and leaves (Budowski 1987). The daily and weekly markets display a bewildering array of locally produced plants and animals . Baskets of fish from the oceans and estuaries provide a colorful array of tempting dining possibilities. Local residents often remark that the countryside is so productive that one would have to be a fool to go hungry. But this plentitude requires labor and organization in order to be realized, and this is, of course, true not just of the inhabitants of the Soconusco but of all peoples everywhere. People are always faced with the question of where to invest time and labor in the productive process The basic decisions about when to plant some seeds, tend some fruit trees, hunt deer or turtles, catch some fish, harvest palm leaves to thatch a new roof, gather a medicinal herb, and so on all require careful thought and planning. Some of the resources people THREE Evidence for the Diversity of Late Archaic and Early Formative Plant Use in the Soconusco Region of Mexico and Guatemala Michael Blake and Hector Neff 48 archaic to formative range of economically important plants was recorded for the coastal region. John Clark’s (1994:78–79) summary of René Acuña’s (1982) analysis of various Relaciones Geográficas lists the plants that were in common use in Guatemala . Table 3.1 combines this list with those from several botanical surveys and archaeobotanical analyses along the Pacific coast of Chiapas and Guatemala.2 Research carried out in the last two decades has added considerably to our understanding of ancient human-plant interactions in the Soconusco . In summarizing the results of this work, we look at several periods and phases spanning the Middle Archaic to the beginning of the Middle Formative period where archaeological and paleoenvironmental data are now available. The individual results are fascinating , and the combined picture shows that there are clear signs of agricultural activity, particularly with the introduction of nonlocal domesticates by the end of the Middle Archaic period.3 Beginning in the Late Archaic period this activity picks up and then becomes much more prevalent in the Early Formative period. We can see these trends in the macrobotanical remains, the evidence for land clearing and burning, and the microremains of plant pollen and phytoliths. Another indicator comes from the tools used to cook, process, and serve various foods. And finally, there is evidence in the form of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in human bone remains.4 Proceeding period by period, starting with the Middle Archaic, we will summarize the data and then explore their implications. Of course, some sites have more than one class of data whereas others have limited amounts of even one type of data. Complicating matters further is the fact that some periods are much better represented in terms of both numbers of sites excavated and the diversity of remains recovered. These limitations notwithstanding, it is still instructive to examine the current information we have at hand, looking at all...