Abstract
To the Maya, plant-based foods were not just important for sustenance but also had ritual meaning that was especially emphasized when placed in graves and caches. Food offered during ritual performances created a reciprocal relationship between living individuals, their ancestors, and the gods. The following thesis examines seven ceramic sherds associated with burial and cache offerings of individuals from the lowland Maya site of Holtun, Guatemala, that were found to have contained food offerings. Starch analysis, a method used to determine plant taxa on a microscopic level was performed on the ceramic vessels along with various experimental molecular spectroscopic procedures. The results gathered from the starch analysis and chemical analysis tested our ability to recover plant remains from archaeological evidence at Holtun and illuminated a possible pattern of grave and offering types, social class, and variety in ritual diet. The identification of manioc, yam, and malanga suggests evidence to the complex ritual diet of the Maya at Holtun not often depicted in iconography from the Middle Preclassic period (800 – 300 B.C.) through the Terminal Classic period (A.D. 550- 900).
Notes
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Graduation Date
2021
Semester
Fall
Advisor
Kovacevich, Brigitte
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
College
College of Sciences
Department
Anthropology
Degree Program
Anthropology
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
CFE0008801; DP0026080
URL
https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0026080
Language
English
Release Date
12-15-2022
Length of Campus-only Access
1 year
Access Status
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
STARS Citation
Batres, Kimberly, "Paleoethnobotanical Analysis of Maya Ceramic Residues from Holtun, Guatemala" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023. 830.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd2020/830