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1. FOCUSING ON INDIVIDUAL WOODEN BUILDINGS REVEALS CHANGES IN THE LATE TO TERMINAL CLASSIC ECONOMY AT THE PAYNES CREEK SALT WORKS

   McKillop, Heather; Sills, E Cory (June 2023, Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology)

   Preservation of wooden building posts in red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) peat below the sea floor at the Paynes Creek Salt Works in southern Belize provides a rare opportunity to study pole and thatch buildings that were likely the dominant construction in the Maya area in prehistory. In 2020 and 2021, when field research at the salt works was not possible due to the covid pandemic, individual wooden buildings at two of the largest sites, Ek Way Nal and Ta’ab Nuk Na, were radiocarbon dated. The dates indicate that the buildings were constructed at different times. Associated artifacts reveal both residences and salt kitchens at both sites and that production began earlier at Ta’ab Nuk Na and ended later at Ek Way Nal. Identification of tree species used in building construction at Ek Way Nal indicates the salt workers selected useful trees and did not overuse the environment. 

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2. EXCAVATIONS OF BUILDING A AND LINE OF PALMETTO PALM POSTS AT EK WAY NAL, BELIZE

   Lincoln, Hollie; McKillop, Heather; Sills, E Cory (July 2023, Research reports in Belizean archaeology)

   This paper summarizes excavations of a suspected fish processing location at the submerged site of Ek Way Nal located in Paynes Creek National Park. Based on use-wear analysis of chert tools found near Building A and a line of palmetto palm posts indicated that fish processing was taking place at Ek Way Nal. In addition to fish processing, Ek Way Nal represents one of 110 Late Classic salt making settlements of the southern coast of Belize. Analysis of survey data, excavation data, and artifact analysis provides information about settlement organization, trade relationships, and activities taking place at the Paynes Creek Salt Works. Excavation data also suggests the presence of a deflated leaching mound created through long-term production of salt at this site. High volumes of charcoal indicate large amounts of wood harvested and burnt for brine boiling. Low-quality and high-quality stone tools and debitage indicate local and long-distance acquisition of stone materials. Artifacts associated with preserved wooden structures indicates building function across the site. 

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3. Household salt production by the Late Classic Maya: underwater excavations at Ta'ab Nuk Na

   https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.106  

   McKillop, Heather; Sills, E Cory (October 2022, Antiquity)

   Salt is an essential commodity; archaeological remains around the world attest to the importance of its production, exchange and consumption. Often located in coastal locations, many production sites were submerged by rising seas, including the Paynes Creek Salt Works on the southern Belize coast. Survey and excavation of these sites has identified ‘kitchens’ for brine boiling, as well as Terminal Classic residential structures at Ek Way Nal. The authors report the discovery of an earlier residential building alongside salt kitchens at the nearby site of Ta'ab Nuk Na. This finding indicates that surplus household production began during the Late Classic, when demand for salt from inland cities was at its peak. 

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4. Sea-level rise and settlement at Ek Way Nal: Coring the past

   Foster, Cher; McKillop, Heather; Sills, E Cory (July 2023, Research reports in Belizean archaeology)

   Excavations in the spring and summer of 2022 were carried out at the underwater ancient Maya salt work of Ek Way Nal in Punta Ycacos Lagoon, Paynes Creek National Park, Belize. Ek Way Nal provided salt to the ancient Maya during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (600-900 C.E.). In additional to excavations in buildings at the site, a 1 X 2 m unit was excavated to extract a sediment column for examining the relationship between the ancient Maya settlement at Ek Way Nal and sea-level rise. In this article, the excavations, extraction of the sediment column, and processing it for laboratory analyses are described. Field observations are discussed. Fine red mangrove root (Rhizophora mangle) and charcoal samples were extracted from the sediment column for radiocarbon dating. The results from the datum core excavation indicate that sea-level rise occurred before, during, and after the ancient Maya occupation at Ek Way Nal. 

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5. Surplus Household production in the Classic Maya economy

   McKillop, Heather (April 2022, Seven Millennia of Salt making)

   Plata, Alberto (Ed.)

   Survey and excavation of wooden buildings and associated briquetage at the Paynes Creek Salt Works indicate salt was produced by households in salt kitchens at sites that were submerged by sealevel rise. The sites are underwater in a salt-water lagoon system on the southern coast of Belize, Central America. The wood was preserved in red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) peat that provided an anaerobic matrix for building posts that were driven into the ground when the pole and thatch salt kitchens were built. Brine was increased in salinity by pouring it over salty soil in canoes, as evidenced by piles of discarded soil at the only two sites above water in the mangroves, as well as a wooden canoe. The brine was boiled in pots over fires in the salt kitchens. Salt cakes and salted fish were transported by canoe up nearby rivers to inland communities where salt was scarce. As salt cakes, they became commodities that could be stored, traded, or kept for subsequent transactions, as currency equivalencies. The implications for salt production in the Maya area during the Classic period civilization (A.D. 300-900) are discussed with reference to other salt works lacking wooden buildings. 

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