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Title: Surplus Household production in the Classic Maya economy
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.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1826653
PAR ID:
10526560
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Editor(s):
Plata, Alberto
Publisher / Repository:
COLECCIÓN VALLE SALADO DE AÑANA, vol. 3.1
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Seven Millennia of Salt making
ISSN:
978-84-7821-936-0
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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