1968_brosimum alicastrum as a subsistence alternative for the classic maya of central southern...

5/26/2018 1968_brosimum Alicastrum as a Subsistence Alternative for the Classic Maya of Central Southern Lowlands

1/153

. ' :BROSIMUMALICASTHUM AS ASUBSISTENCE* ' - . *"*" . v .

ALTERNATIVE_FOR THSCIASSIC MAYAOFTHECENTRALV - ; - - : : , : . SOUTHERN LOWLANDS

.DennisEdward Puleston

Presentedto theFacultyof theGraduate SchoolofArtsand SciencesoftheUniversityofPennsylvaniainPartialFulfillmentof theRequirementsfor theDegreeofMasterof.Arts. . .

(1968)

"Supel^risor ofThesis

Graduate Group Chairman

.ATHESIS / 'in.'

Anthropology


2/153


3/153

Theramonsurveywascarried out atTikal,in Guatemala,in 196? asoneaspect of the Tikal SustainingArea Project directedby Dr. WilliamAVHavilandof theUniversity ofVermont. Theauthorwasfielddirectorof this project. The necessary funds were supplied byagenerous grant fromtheNational Science Foundation

Theramon survey wasbased onasettlement survey - ;.carried out by theauthor under theauspicesof theTikalProject in1965. Inthis settlement surveyastrip .500 meters wideextending12 kilometers south from thecenterofTikalwas mapped. Further survey work in 1966producedstrip maps extendingnorth,eastfandwest.Thisworkalsowassponsoredby theTikalProject which.was under the direction of Dr. William R. Coe, withGeorge Guillemin as field director.

il

PREFACE

(GS-1*M39).


4/153

, . .Let it be said at the outset that this thesi srepresentsa jointeffort, nosmall partofwhichisthe result ofwork carri ed out by my brother, PeterPuleston, ofA de l phiSuffolk College. In196?,asa participantin theTikal Sustaining AreaProject,hecarried out thebulk of the fieldworkwith the assistanceofElias Contreras, who-was also instrumental tomanyaspectsof thework. Dr. WilliamA.Haviland,associateprofessor at theUniversity ofVermont,who introducedme to Maya archaeology in 1961 through theTikal ."Housemound11 Projecthasbeen of primary assistance andgreat influenceat all stagesof the present project,I also.wish toacknowledgethedepthof myindebtednesstoDr . William R. Coe who invarious roles as instructor,-advisor,and research director of theTikal Project hasbeen a constant, source ofguidance and stimulus.in dealingwiththe problems pertaining directlytothisworkaswellas throughtheexamplehe has providedbyhisownwork.

It iswi th great p leasure thatIacknowledgetheinestimable value of the opinions, criticism,andinform-ationIhave recei ved fromthefollowing personswho tookthe timetoread earlier draftsofthis thesis: Dr.HansK. Gregersonof theSchoolof National Resourcesat theUniversity ofMichi gan ; JohnS. Lea, editor,

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


5/153

Smithsonian Institution;Dr.CyrusL.Lundell,Directorof theTexas Research Foundation;Dr.RubenReina,ProfessorofAnthropology of the University of Pennsylvania;Dr. * ;Llnton Satterthwalte, Professor Emeritus of Anthropologyat theUniversityofPennsylvania;andDr.J.EricS.Thompson. ^ ^ . . - ' * - ' . - . - . . ' . . - ' * . ' ' S Ialso would liketoacknowledge theguidance,criticism,andoften vitalInformation Ihave receivedfrom Dr. Moises Behar, Director of theInstitutedeNutricionde CentroAmericay Panama inGuatemala;BennetBronson'ofthe Universityof Pennsylvania; Dr.CarlW. Gambell, associate horticulturist atthe'UniversityofFlorida Sub-TropicalExperiment Station;Dr.MichaelD.Coe ofYale University;Dr.A .0.Dahl,Professor ofBotanyattheUniversity ofPenna.; Dr.JohnM.Fought .Assistant.'Professor ofLinguisticsat theUniversityof Pennsylvania;Dr. Francis Johnston,Assistant Professor ofAnthropology,University ofPennsylvania; D r . . - C . . .Glen King,Presidentoft h e -InternationalUnionofNutritional Sciences;Dr.JohnM.LongyearIII,Professor ofA nthropologyatColgate University;Dr. George L. NcNew,ManagingDirector of theBoyceThompsonInstituteofPlant ResearchInc.;Dr.Robert.Netting,Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the UniversityofPennsylvania;Dr.Gerald Olson, Assistant Professor ofSoil Science in ResourceFevelopmentat Cornell University;Dr.PaulB. Pearson, PresidentoftheNutritionFoundationInc.;andDr.John Popenoe, Directorof theFn^rchild

Iv


6/153

Inkingthe surveymaps; Rafael MoralesFernandez,DirectoroftheTikalNational Park,who sogenerouslyplacedatout disposal mulesandother Tikal NationalParkfacilitieswithout which manyof ourundertakings would have beenimpossible; and the Institute deAntropologla eHistoriadeGuatemala, through whichtheformer director,CarlosSamoyoa Chinchilla andLie.LuisLujan'Munozmadethepresentproject possible.

Finally,itiswith considerable gratitudetheauthor wishestoacknowledge the supporthereceived fromtheother membersof theTikal Sustaining Area Project,notonlyfortheir suggestionsandassistance injobslikecounting ramon nuts, butalsofor information fromtheirownprojects whichwerecarried out inconjunctionwiththe survey. Theless well-definedbut even greater debttotheTikalProjectasawhole cannotbeunderestimated.

It shouldbemade clear that though manyof theabovepersonshave offered valuable assistanceto theauthor,andeven encouragement, thepresent thesis doesnotnecessarilyreflectanyagreement ontheir part withtheviewsandopinions expressed here. The author takesfullresponsibi-lityforany omissions,misquotations,or other errorswhichmayoccurhere.


7/153

vi


8/153

TABLEOF CONTENTS

vii


9/153

vlii


10/153

The.limitations,di ffi culties and even liabilitiesofslash-and-burnagriculture haveall beenpointsof.contention in d iscussi ons of subsistencetheory. Theyhave playedan importantandalso controversialroleindiscussions of Classic Maya subsistence,for which slashand burn agriculture is supposed to have been practiced ona large scale in the rainforests of the southernLowlands.Toynbee'shypothesisof stimulusand responseas abasisfor the development of civilizations has been suggestedasanexplanation of the early blossoming of Olmeccivilization in the face of the subsistence challengesofthe lowlands(M.D.Coe1962:? ). Meggers(195*0 feltthat the challenge was toogreat,and thatf once estab-lished, Maya civilization was doomed to gradualdecline,at least in the MayaLowlands, Many have attri butedamore dramatic collapse to some form ofagri culturalfailure.Most ofthese hypotheses ascribe this failure to theultimate liabilitiesof large scale slash-and~burncultivationofmaizein therainforest environment (O.F.Cook19091 1921; Cooke 1931; Morley 1935; Steggarda19 1)'.Lately,as we have become moreaware of the true dimen-sions of the achievements of the Classic Maya in timeaswellas space, such theories have become lesspopular.WilleyandSabloff(196?)nowp rovide evidencefortherole of external factors in the collapse of Classic Maya

INTRODUCTION

1


11/153

civilization, though they still feel thesubsistencebalance was ftprecarious. 11 As(W.R. Coe1957)hasintimated,however,it istimewe recognized the massiveaccomplishments ofthe Maya for what they are -~ theremainsofa civilization formula thatworked,andworkedwell,rather than one thatfailed.

How thenare we todeal with the obviousli mitationsofslash~and-burn cultivation? A new perspectiveon thefull extent of the inconsistencies here has recently beenpresentedbyReina(196?). Ap parently withoutthebenefitsof irrigationand chinampahorticultureas practicedintheMexican highlands(Palerm 1955)t seasonal flooding suchas occurs in the Chontalpa region (Sanders1962),or the

s - . -exceptional,soils of the Olmec area(Druckerand HeizerI960),the'Classic Maya of the southern Lowlands stillproducedaviable civilizationofovera thousand yearsduration. How did theydo It?

Though we have long recognized the architecturalachievements of the "ceremonial centersff of theMayaasthe resultof a substantial investmentoflabor,thishas been rationalized by assuming that the Indicatedmanpower was broadly dispersed. A recent surveybyBullard(I960)seemed to supportthispicture, indicating,as Sanders(1962) points out,ff...a surprising lackofcorrespondence of house clusters to majorceremonialcomplexes. ff It Is only recently with the data frommoreintensive surveysatTikal(CarrandHazard 19^1;

2


12/153

HavilandandPulestonn.d.KSeibal (unpublished data)fandBartonRamie(Willey etal,1965)thatwehavereallybeen forced torealize thedensityof thepopulation thatprobably once occupied this wholearea, *The impossibilityof the situation intermsof the productivenessofslash-and-burn techniques was recognizedby Ricketson andRicketson(1937:15-2 ). On the basis of the Uaxactunhousemound survey, they calculated a potential populationdensity ofabout1000people/sq.mi.; in terms oftheagricultural system attributed to the Maya, such a figurewas consideredpreposterous. Accordingly,they reducedto25$the number ofhouses they assumedto be occupied contemporane-ously. Sanders(1962:99)performed similar operationsonthe.Dos-Aguadas and BartonRamie data(1962:210)in anattempt tobring thedata into line withthe ssumptionbysuggesting reductionsof up to75 in the number ofmoundsassumed tobe occupiedat any one time. Withno feasible pJltexnativetoslash~and~burn cultivationof maize,he had no choice.Though thisdep endenceonmaize is one of theoldestandmost hallowed building blocks for our reconstructionsofClassicMayaculture and civilization, itmustberecognized that it is still only an assumption based onvery littleproof. To date this proofhasbeen primarilyinferential,Inspiteof the fact thata fewcorn cobfragmentshave be en found atTikaland Uaxactun;but , -halfadozencorn cob fragments hardly formthesubsis-tencebase of a civilization. New data seems to be

3


13/153

continually forcing usto revise population estimatesupwards(Haviland etal.1968:93).. In the face ofthistrendand theknownlimitations ofslash~and~burnagriculture, any subsistencealternatives should receivefullattention* :

:Partof the problem, of course, hasbeenalack ofalternatives (Sanders1962). Bronson(1966),however,;hasbrokentheinterpretive logjam witha succinctandconvincing case for Classic Mayautilization.of severalextraordinarily prod uctive rootcrops. The case fora second alternative"is to be presentedhere.

Morethan thirty yearsago,scienti sts began torecognize dense concentrations of a fruit-producing'treeknownas therainon (Brosimumal^agtrumSw. fig.1) aroundthe abandoned ruins of many famous Lowland Mayasites.This striking di stri bution suggested thatthetreesrepresented relic populationsofatree actuallyculti-vatedby the Maya. Though it has beenknownthat thefruit of this tree pr ovides a dense carbohydrate staplethat is used by theMaya today when other food sources fail,this interesting treehasnotreceived further attentionuntil the present projectwas initi ated, under thesponsorship of the National ScienceFoundation.


14/153

DESCRIPTION O P THE R A MON

Inrespecttogeneralunfamiliaritywiththistreeand theImportance ofcertain aspectspf. itsmorphologyanddistribution,adescriptionisincluded hereasapreface to thevbodyof the paper* 'The^ tFamlly;^Mpraceae ;

Brosimim gjj^ca^trum Sw. belongs to the family M o ra cea^e* . . Asamemberofthis interesting family, it iscloselyrelated tothebreadfruit of the Pacific,(Artocarpu^communisForst.)g the mulberry trees;the famousjakfruit,-Artocarpus integra(Thunb.)M i r rt t which producescmof the largest fruitsintheworld with weights,ofup to 80 Tbs. reportedlyfor a single fruit(Chandler1958:3 3)s and the figsof thegenusFi cuswhich,according to Lemee(1929* 3)> compri seone of1 largestflowering plant genera in theworld.-.-Humboldt1s .famous "cow tree;11 Br_osimuiautilef(H.B.K,)Pittier, whichproducesastonishingmilk-like sap which is entirelypotable \ - ' : : ; : was formerly used in the diet of plantationlabor (Humboldt 181911:106). A ttempts have been madesince1836to introduce this tree into Indiaasanalternative to cows asa source of nrailktf(Biswas 1950*19?) Onlyrecently,however,have attempt stogrowthetreemetwithany success (Chatterjee19502116).Controversy still surrotinds thenutritive value ofthis"milk," (Pittier1918:10*0. / /

I


15/153

Figure i: Illustrationofleavesand fruitof theramonBrosimuinalicastrum Sw (Descourtilz1821-33:P^te536


16/153

7Habitats :

The ramen (Brsiraim 11-a^rum)is alarge treerestricted to thelowland forests ofMesoamericathoughunder.specialconditions it does occurIndrier highlandareas and certain-partsof. theCaribbean, As willbe

V

indicated in the survey data,itappears toflourish onwell-drainedhabitats, though italso occursin swampy-areas.Inareasofgreaterexposureitprefers shady7'canyonsandbarrancas* The high.calcium content of theleavesand fruit (INCA-P-ICNND1961:23,71)suggestthatit iswell adap tedto the limestone-derivedlithosolsandcalcimorphicrendzina soilswhichcharacterizethesouthern MayaLowlands(Stevens

Fully mature specimensofB.llastrmamaybe ashigh as 3 Q r a3 S meters with the trunk more thanameteri ndiameter, The dense crown spreads out well intothethird storyof thehig h forestcommunity. Thebark whichIs basically gre y, varies considerably betw een individuals,This appearsto be largelya functionofage. Oldtreestend tohave adark-brownsealey bark which i s oftencoveredwithlichens. Younger trees'aresmooth to thetouch with golden- yellow colors around thebuttress esand lowertrunk. The buttre sses on larger treesaretalland thick extendingout asmuchas twometers fromthe trunk at ground level. During the rainy season,


17/153

8 tfrom Kay to Decembert a out in. the side of the tree'

.produces a copious flow of milky,white,sap. The woodIswhltlsh~yellow. The leavesa r ebright"green,-short- . .petiolate, elliptical-oblong In shape andglabrous. Theirthickness glves'acharacteristic-density to theappearance of . the foliage,,

The single inconspicuous femaleflower and thenumerous inconspicuous male flowers are all attached-tothe fleshy gl obose recept acle which encloses thecoty-ledonous seed(fig/2) The maleflowerywhichreduced to single steinanst produce thepollen. Theyare separated from each other".by fleshy peltate bracts

"which cover the surface of the receptacle,, The female';flower,immersed in the center.of the receptaclet exertsits single-style with twocharacteristic stlginatosebranches. The lack of.acorolla, suggests that theflowersare' pollinated entirely' bywind, - -

, 'S ome confusion hassurrounded the monoecious statusof "theflower.. Swartz (179? 1:18)set the tonewithhisapparentlyfaultyobservationthat'female flowersgrowondistinct trees, therebysuggesting that the

-trees were entirely dioecious/-Probablyhe hadbeenmisledby the fact that the"female flower sometimesemergesfrom the involucre-beforethe maleflowers.Thismechanism,called dichogamy (Chandler195^*^6) I s -

-also employed'bytheavocadof and is ameans of assuming


18/153


19/153

10somedegree ofcross-pollinationbetw een trees. Grisebach(186 :152),whonoted that both male female flowersoccur on the same fruitof the tree, possibly wastaking hisobservations from fruits onwhichthefemaleflowers'hadbecome senile whenhenoted thatthe flowers'were monoecious or tdloeciousby abortion,,11 It is nowgenerally conceded" that the"flowers (i.e."trees) aremonoecious or rarely dioecious11 (Bailey191 *579)* 'Lundell(personalcommunication).reportsthat the sp ecimen s he hasIn the Texas ResearchFoundationcollections are allapparentlymonoecious. ;

The.ediblefruits, consistingof the fleshy recepta cleand the enclosedeotyledo'nous seed* arise singly fromthe"axilsof the leaves. They are characteristically yel-low incolorbut also can be orange or red, .Thediameterof the globose fruit varies from 1,5 to2.5 cms* Indiameter. The small size is more typi cal of specimensobservedatTikal. The fleshy receptacle Isabout0.2 cm.,in thickness* In terms ofweightTIkalspecimensaveraged 1,5 6. for the receptacleand 3 0g. for theseed,Fruitincr:

Twice-ayear,according to local InformationatTlkaltheramontrees bear fruit. Thefirstfall,inthe dry season can."beginas early asFebruaryor aslate


20/153

as April. The second comesin the wet seasonIn August.We d i d . not observe this secondfall,but Gonzalez - . ( 1 9 3 9 s221) notes thatthetree fruits in.OctoberandNovemberInCampeche. Anormalfalllasts five-or six weeks@Varietie/?:

Local woodsmenof thePetenclaim tobe'abletodistinguish three varieties ofraraononthe.basisof'fruit size and color'and differences in the 'shapesand si^es ofleaves. These varieties were called rainonbianco^11f lr a i i i o n 'amarillo,ff and S lr a i n o n rojo,f Though attempts weremade to distinguish these varieties in oursurvey,theabsence of fruits and the obscurity of the leaf distinctionsmade manyof the.identifications rather arbitrary.Evidence in support of the reality of these varietiesis'providedby Martinez (1959 )who reports that three

ivarieties known as f oxbianco,11 t r o x "Coloradof and f f e ldehojaan.eha11 are found inTabasco^ He also suggeststhat thesevarieties occur inQuintana Hoowhenhewritest1 1el ox Colorado de Quintana Boo esmenosapreciado queel bianco.11

' . ' Though it isgenerally knownthatBros^imumfyj st;ris r . fast-growing9 little in the way ofspecific data isavailable. For lack of reliable data ontreesgrowingin Central Americaf thefollowing fragmentshave'been

Growth Hate:

11


21/153

12collected from data on plantings in.experimental gardensIn the United States and Puerto Rico, ItIspossible-that -growth,rates for tre es growing In the'.Maya.Lowlandswillbe found tobe qui te different. Brltton and Wilson(1926:3 3)report that a specimenplanted In1920 at .the Experimental Station atMayagueg* PuertoRicohadreachedaheightof 3metersby1926,and "appearedvigorous f l By 1929 this specimenhad reachedaheight- o f 5 meters (Brltton andWilson1930:570) .Aftree planted in1939at theFairchild Tropical Gardens"InFlorida Isnow(January 1968) about12,5metershighasdetermined"from a photograph takenbySallyPulestoruAnother treeplanted in 1913 at theUeS. Plant Intro-duction S tation at Coconut Grove inFlorida was over15 mete rs high in 19^5 These data are plotted on theaccompanying graph(fig.3)* A -vertical growth rate ofa little under-O.e5meters/year Is suggested* Presumablya treecould reachamaximumof30"35detersin 65years. Hopefully,further dataongrowth.ratescanbe collectedin Tlkal orUaxactunin thenear future.Informationon how long the. trees live Isnotavailable,,

There perhaps twp'doEerivalid speciesfor thegenusJBroimum,though48namesfor the genusare listedinGray1sHerbarium Index, All of these species are

Related Species:


22/153

13


23/153

nativeto the NewWorld. Therangeof thegenus extendsfrom-Mexico south through Central'America IntoSouthAmericawherevarious species occur inVenezuelat the 'Guianas,'Brazil* Colombiat Peruf Ecuador,and Paraguay,'In-the CCairlbbean,representatives of the genus s e e i n ;to 'be limitedto JamaicafCuba, andTrinidad, Threespecies>SSEJilA Standl., B.os r I nmiiLiebm*,"andB.t^rrabamiiiiPlttier,are similarenough to'B0 ,gll.iZ]l1Sw."topossiblybe con-specific* The lack of distinctionbetweenBcis b mm and B.alj.âs1^rujaIsindicatedbyRecordand Hess (19^3>:380)and Standley(1937:3.80).Record andHess further suggest thatB..SOBtaTlcarmmIsnomore thanavarietyofB *2^S^JiI^JSeemos"trecent assessment of thegenus isthatofPittier (1918)and it isbadly out ofdate, Standley(19 6s1 5 -)remarks,

howevert that f ^ ebecause of lack o f abundant fertilespecimens^,..the speciesofBrosjlnium still are imperfectlyknownandtheirclassification is notaltogetherâtisfactory6fl Inspiteof thesedifficulties,anup-to-date reviewof thegenus is'badlyneeded*

For ourpurposes here itis sufficient tonote that> J^^l^-2-liSS^San(3-S cJig S SSHS produce edible fruitssimilar to those - o fB.Sil struin. B ôn^zattîJ.e whichoccurs in alocalized ofOaxaca (Standley 1919-20),can probably be included in t h i s -category though informationon the'edibility-of the fruits is lacking*

i - 4


24/153

The map(fig. )Indicates t h e ' ; ,general dist ributionofthe four speci es mentioned above InJamaicat where.onlyB0 alJ.ca^gtrum occurs/- it is abundant in thecentralparishes. The -tree issparingly represented in.Cuba (Record and Hess.IS&rj'K Indrier areas as'on theNicoya Peninsula of Costa Ricat Incertain parts of.Chiapas, and i n the drainage areas of the PapaloapanandBalsas,the tree is most common inbarrancaswhereit'possibly represents the remnants of a former forestvegetationwhich-has since been removed by man as a-result of hisagricultural activities*

Standleyand Steyermark(19 6:13)providethe followinginformationon the di stribution of the tree in Guatemala;

1MoIst or wet forest,ascending toabout l e O O Ometers but mostly at 300meters'or less;Peten,AltaVerapaz;Izabal;Esculntla:Guatemala (valley ofRi oHotagua);Retalhuleuj Quiche;Huehuetenango;BajaVerapaE,11

For many years botanistsandarchaeologistsworking in the Peten have been aware of the fact-thatthe.ramon tree-tends todominate-the high forest communityarounctlong-abandoned Mayaruins. Lundell(1938:4.1)

Distribution:15

Introduction:


25/153

Fge*:MaoCraAcanohCbnshwnhaome

dsrboohmnebespeo

f ran

Bromun

acrusBromumeamuanBromumcoacnm


26/153

1 ?reported thathe had"...foundramongroves(ramonales)cohering the-sites of eYeryOld Empire ruin(hehad)visited InPetenand Campeche,11 Thompson .l930:185)observed, f l e * i t Isremarkablewhat large numbers of(ramontrees)are to be found growling in the immediatevicinity of every group ofruins.11

0.P. Cook(1935:615)states that'theabundanceofthis tree onMaya ruins has been largely responsible formanyof" thearchaeological discoveries made in the Mayaarea over the last half century, presumably becausethe trees brought manwi th their mules to the ruin areas'^X

Goingback intothe literature It isInterestingto"note thatFatherAvendano,,oftenquotedaspossibly the

.first lfwhite~:manff to see Tikal8 notes unwittingly thegeneral association of "the tree wit h.ruinareas In 1696(Means191?sl6?) Avendanofs accountIs of further interestbecause it also indicateshisawareness of it'asa - .source of food* saying nothing of the value of a bit ofearthyphilosophy: : - , -

1 1...but It is wonderful that though theseforests in which we traveled for two days:and thethree precedingones,consist of an infinitenumberofJ19JL?.and- trees,wedid notfindinthemall a bit toeatTTT.Seeing theirsterility,IsaidfThey appeared In every respect like those ofGilboa. 1 ~ - f l W i t h soTew'-comforts and so greataffliction?.our strength went on diminishing very quiclclyfknowing for truth the proverb-,which theBiscayans,my fellowcountrymen, says flt is theguts whichcarry and support the legs and not the-legs,the


27/153

Initially.the objective of this study was totestquantitatively thereality ofthisrelationship betweenramontreesandMayaruins,,Assuming thattherelationshipcould bedemonstrated,we^of coursef intended-to go ontothequestionofwhy? Morespecifically,whattheevidencefor theramonsbeing relic populations oftreesactuallycultivatedby theMaya? Again*assumingthat thiscould':bedemonstratedt we would-gainvaluable

Could these"apartments,tfwhichAvendanoexcludes fromhis.category ' l f o l d . buildi ngs,ff bereferences to evidence"he.found forcontemporary occupation? Such aconclusionwould not'beinconsistent with thenatureof'"post-classicoccupationdebris?lfound atClassic sitessuchasTikalandUaxactun

Purposes

BartonRamie,(1965:23) report that It Is one of. thedominants atthe-area of SanJose (Thompson1939:3). Wllley e t -al.

Subsequentobservations onthis association havebeenscattered/ Ruppert andDenison(19^3*3)writeflmostarchaeological sitesare coveredwith aheavystand of raraon* They specifically note theoccurenceof thetreeat Rio Becfr Thompson-notes Its prevalence i n -

guts;1 Among thesehighhills whichwe.passed overfithere is a.variety of oldbuildings,exceptingsomeinwhichIrecognisedapartments andthough theywere very highandmy'strength little, Iclimbed t i pthem (though withtrouble)f l (Means1917:16?)

18


28/153

Insightsinto Classic Maya ethnography aswellas apowerfultool3br'dealingwith problems relating'toClassic Maya,subsistence and theinterpretation ofSettlementpatterns. . . .

Treating separately for'themomentthe ofarchaeology and ecologytthevalueof the study can beconsideredto betwofold. Firsttfor thearchaeologist,itrepresents anopportunity toclarify thepictureofMayasubsistence andland-usein areas beyond thereachofconventionaltechniques. Second*for theecologist,itoffers a rare,chance tostudythepersistenceofecolo-gical changes brought aboutby man.inanarea left all -buttotally undisturbed for almost a thousand years.The significance"of.thiswasnotedby Bartlett(1935:18):

fllfthis supposition regardingramonshould besupportedbyfutureInvestigations,itwill affordadditionalsupport for thesupposition thattheplant associations of thePetenforest weredeterminedlargelybyhuman agency centuriesago^11

In early planning sessions we had intendedto compareseparate plotsin 1)areas knowntohavebeeninhabited*2)areasbelieved to-havebeenuninhabited,and 3)areastransitional between these two. - Inview of themagnitudepf'Tikal and the complexity of settlementpatterns aroundi t t it was decidedthat these.separateplots mightbe

19

MethodsandMaterials


29/153

Inadequate for"clear proof of the relationship^ ifit did exist^ ssumingthat.therelationship could'beproven,wewere concerned with findinga ofdealingwith the-logicalcontingencies"whichwould inevitably :follow, In.view of;the variety ofsettlement patternsat Tikal .(Carrand 196l),we decide d that it .wouldbeimportant toknow-with-what kinds ofsettlementrainons^are most numerously associated; inwhat situationsmight there be excepti ons to the associati on-of rainonsand settlementi and inwhat ways distri bution might have.-been changed,by ecological develop ments subsequent toMayaabandonment,

Inan effort todeal more comprehensively w i t h -thespecific problem chosen,.we decided itwould be besttostudy theramon in one continuous transect that wouldextend from one extreme"ofMayasettlement density to.theother. By this means subtle but significant changesmight become.evident whichwould otherwise b e _missed^Clearly^ such a transectwould haveto be a long one-and-in'fact itturned out to be 12kilometers long before it was'completed* '

.Asto the problem of where exactly to run the transectfthe decisionwas greatly slmplifledby the fact thatwe;Were. l i m i t e d. . _ t o _ . areas_ijri_which_^s_ettlement densitywas .known*The main sitemap ofCentralTikal,-covering anareaof16sqs 'km.wasinsufficientshowever,.for our purposes.

20


30/153

With the excepti on of Inhospitablebajo of escoba( l9.P ll Bartlett) the the published 'map covers must havesupp orted fairly dense settlement',estimatedbyHaviland(1966:32)to beminimally10,000*.11000peoplefor.themappedarea. This densitycanbe'seen on are duced version of theTlkal siteKiap (fig* 5)The.apparentlyvacantareasbetween the i ndicated houseplatforms of the peripheral areas were hardly largeenough to testvalidly theramon-settlement- associat ionfor at least threereasonst First,of allt''lowhouse-platformss .* invisible without"excavations,had alreadybeen demonstrated to exist intested vacantareas.Second, the dispersal rate oframons,slow as it mightbe, couldwell have altered significant distributions oyorsuc-hsmall "vacanttf areas and over such .a long periodoftime even if these' areas really were uninhabited. On thebasis of therapidityof the tree's growth a successionof at least 50 generations since abandonment is calculated*We consider a generation to be thelength of ti me betweenthefalling of the seed and the time atwhich thetreereaches maxitoumbreadth and begins to p roduce maximumamounts offruit0 a"period of time which isestimatedto be about20years* The third reasonwas that,if infact the trees were planted inkitchen gardens,'these.areas'mayhavebeen.used for that purpose,therebyeliminating them-a s -controls'fortesting thehypothesis.

2 1


31/153

Figure 5* Map of thecentral 16 squarekilometersofTikal(FromCarrand Hazard1961)v22


32/153

23Clearly, tie had tohave much larger,vacant-areas ongood.high groundas far-fromthe centerofTIkalaspossible.

Fortunatelyt the recently completedsettlement'survey strips extending.12k m - ,northt south,-eastwest from the center ofTIkal.f provided an opportunitytomeet these n eeds0 The stripsgkm.wide,,begin inthe center ofTIkaland extend well beyond the limitsofthe formerly heavily settled area aroundTikal(fig,6)eThe strips were oriented to survey trails orb^eclmslaidbyFYDEPin1964in thedelimitation of.theTIkal-National-Park,

Of the four strips'the south onewas chosen,for a;number ofreasons. The most important of these thatit'presented the largest number of significant combinations,ofthe threevariables'we could control: terrain elevation,settlementdensitytand distance fromTikal. Thefirsttwoofthesevariables were less well controlled o n - t h e "other strips* To the north wes t, terrain-descendedrathercontinously,eliminating the possibility of testingareas of low settlement density"onhigh'ground whichis apparently favored by thetree in situations far fromTikal.. To the east the strip descends into logwoodswampscharacterized by the t^intoXHaematoxyMjica2SS5 iSSiSLe)where theramondoesnot occur, app arently because of .the u.nfavorability ofthis habitat for it. T h e - east strip,


33/153

Figure6: Map of theTikal National Park showing"the~ locationsand orientations of the sustainingarea survey strips (FromHaviland andPuleston,h.d.)24


34/153

25aswell as Including sectionsoflogwood, presented anotherproblem relating to the secondvariablementionedabove.Near the east - e n d * there Is a^sizeablesettlement, possiblylinked to theunassessed apparently positiverelation-ship between settlement and logwood .swamp. Thissituation eli minated the possibility of testing areasof low settlement density on high ground,far fromTikal@

Another reason for selecting the south strip-wasthat' a'n umber of other studieswere being carried outon this strip* These other surveys Included a ceramictest-pitting program whfchheovered arandomly selectedsample of one-third of all theplaza groups on the strip;a study of soil samples collected in19&7* presentlybeing Investigated byDrv Gerald Olson at CornellUniversityi and the more complete excavation of about adozenresidential sitesand the "satellite11 site.Navajuelal,excavatedby Ernestine Greene(Ph.'D. thesisfn.d.).

Before actual mapping of rainons could-begin,pointsof reference to be used Inmapp ing , had to be laid down.For this purposewooden stakes-were placed every 25metersalong the'centralsurveytrail or echaof themapped strip, -On each stake,w as written with felt pensits distance -inmeters from the center ofTikal* Thestakes were laid witha 30"meterK& Ecloth tape"whichwas stretched horizontally betw een the stations* Athreeman teamwas sufficient for thisjob,twowere able to carry


35/153

26 .out theactualstaking;measuring, marking9 leavingthe,otherfreeto go -clearing thetrailandcontinue cutting n e w stakes* -

'.The techniques employed for mapping the treeswere similar to those used on the5 0meter' - w i d e settlement.transect mappedIn 1965 (HavilandandPuleston,'n.d0).The rataon survey strip-was trimmed to a.width of 100mete rs "for severalreasonss 1)because It was felt that100meterswere'sufficient to provide acomparatively,representative transectframonsbeing somewhat moreabun-"dant-thanhouseplatforms; and 2) the extra time necessaryto map a wider strip would have made Itimpossibletocomplete the full 1 2 -kilomete rs in the timeavailable.On theother hand a stripnarrower than 100meters wouldprobably have been Insufficient for the following reasons:(1) The hypothetical associations of ramons"and settlementmade Itnecessary to include aminimally repre sentati vesample of house platforms in the racion surveyf which aUna transectorothernarrow transect wouldnothave.provided 9 and (2)sinceareas ofminimal rarnon densitywere of special interest in this study* it would beimportant to get represen tative samples where they mightbe very scarce-* eventhough100meters might have beenmore thanwas necessary whereramon densitjwas.high.

Materialsused for mapping Included a full set ofthe south strip settlement surveymapsp mounted on a


36/153

2?clipboard,a field,-notebook,a Brunt oncompass,redandblack pencils,a felt tip marker* a small plasticruler. The actual locationandmappingof the treescarried out with the assistance of two experienced localwoodsmen^ Small were-searchedsystematically* oneat a time'.- Once a tree discovered it located fromthe breejha with the compass. Distances'were paced fromthe 25meter stakes to points on thebi^echa perpendicularlyeast orwest of the tree"and'thento thetree itself*orvice-versa. Whereanumberoftrees occurredtogether,the. location of the first tree was used as a . " b a s epointtomap In othersInthevicinity. The plotting of therelationship of trees to houseplatforms,whentheyoccurred together always recei ved special attenti on,When, as occasionally hap pe ned , mound groups were foundto.beInaccurately,located by a few rneters0the trees were'plotted to show theirrelationship-to the mounds ratherthan theiractualpositions.

The position ofeachtree was marked on the maps witha red.pencil, Each treewasgl^enanumber whichrecordedin the field notebook with otherdata, as wellas on themap0 .Thenumberwas also placed on the treeitselfbymakingasmall blazeandpaintingit onwiththe.felt.tip pen* Thiswas done to prevent the p ossibilityofremappingandalsoto facilitaterelocation Afternumbering,a roughshoulder-level diameter of the tree was'


37/153

takenand recorded, -Asuperficial search in.theforestlitter for ramon nuts to determine whether ornot the tree producingfruit. Thedeterminationofwhether the treewas of the "bianco,.11 f f r o j o f l f orftamarillof ff variety,as judged by our Informant/EllasContreras, made and.also recorded.A All trees with a diameter of two or more inches were

thusmappedand recorded. Small treeswere,disregardedbecause of the difficulty involved infindingandrecordingthemallfand because most ofthem would probably neverreach maturity, .

A cursory glance at the radial stripmaps(fig.?)and the accompanying graph (fig, 8) reveals a /Dikingcorrelation between settlementand thedensityoframonElevation anddrainage-only locallyaffect the overallpatterns. A closer examinationof theevidence follows.J jO- jO Jr i Following the strip map,the survey beginsat the center of the Great Plaza ofTikal. Per the'first125 metersof the survey the number oframonsindicatedon the.map and graph are probably somewhatbelow theactual figure. In the process ofclearing, excavation,and reconstruction,, manyramonswere cutdownin thearea of the Great;Plazaand CentralAcropolis. Fortunately^inaojgood part ofthis area stumpsstill remainedatthe time of the survey, which-couldbe identifiedand counted.

Review of the SurveyData:

28


38/153


39/153


40/153


41/153


42/153


43/153


44/153


45/153


46/153


47/153


48/153


49/153

koms

Figure8

Agraphicdemonstrationoftherelationetweennutabersofstructures/

r

trees,ndaltitudeonthesouthstrip.Altitudesdownthe

centerofthestrip,,eterminedbytransit,reIndicatedbythesolid

line;;structureswithinthe500meterwidestrip

bytherokenline;

andramontreeswithinthe100eterwidestrip*bythedottedline.

Thedropoffinstructuredensity,hichbeginsat5k

asactually

greaterinLateClassictimesthanindicated,ythegraph,fornotall

structuresbeyondthispointwereinseatthattime.Arelationship

betweenstructuredensityandramonsseemstoeclearlydemonstrated.

Thereislittlecorrelationetweenaltitudeandthedensityof

structuresoramonsbeyond6m.


50/153

Where possible t this Information was supplementd.byinformation taken fromearlier photographs^ The highdensity of here is equaled only by the.peek at .5km. Inall probability thisconcentration cannotbeattributed togroves which stood InMaya times,, Archaeo-logical investigation indicates that theplazas courts9andalleyways betweenthe many palacesand temples werepaved wit h heavy plaster floors offering little opportunityfor any sort ofvegetatio n^ It cannot be categoricallystated that single large trees were not planted in thecenters of these courtyards where.thefloorsare most'des-troyed * but at present there is only evidence against-such a possibility. Host.of the ramons in this areaare f orratherwere,growing up on thetopsand alongthe sides of the collapsedbuildings* Evidently thisisbecause of the unique and highlyfavorable conditions theyoffer thetree which to doquite well inwell-drainedsituations.

For.thesereasons, it seems likely that the large.numbers of-trees which occur inthis arearepresent an-incursionwhich has taken place since the abandonmentof the.site by theMaya^ This incursion probablymade possible by largereservoirs of theramon insurrounding areas theadvanceof which mayhave beanimplemented by the activit ies ofbats,as will be discussed

41

later.


51/153

Continuing south on the s tri p, below the CentralAcropolis in thePalaceReservoi r, comparatively-few -ramons'occur, Perhaps this"Is due to-theinstabilityof the steepsides,of thereservoir where few large treesof any kind.are able - t o maintain a hold*. It seems unlikelythat ramons grewhere inMaya times either, unless'conditions were verydifferent, * . '

U p - - - o n the other side of the reservoir,around Temple- V , and the SouthA cropolis to thewest,ramons becomemore numerousagain. The dip In the graph atthis.pointissomewhat misleading since it is due to therelatively.few ramons found on the long downhill slopebehindTempleV* -Here again lack of stability for larger treesmaybe responsible as there are many ramons in the general area,

Beyond t h i s -hillslope, further south,thedensityoframons increasesdramatically. We are now outsi de theceremoni al /nucleus of publicarchitecture,but largeIJpalaces ff and palace-complexesstill dominatethe settle-

B i e n t scene*. A s in the CentralAcropolis, great numbers- o f the trees occupy the tops and sides of the largermounds though manyalsogrow insurrounding areas-thatarequitelevel. The trees occur less and less frequentlyon themounds as we move away from thelarger collapsedpalaces so typi cal of the area right around theceremonialnucleus* - .;:>;

42


52/153

Beyond thisarea adrop.Inramondensity Isaccompani edbyadrop In'the ofmounds if not Intheir frequency*Sincemostramonswithin 'thisarea are occupying positionson the collapse f thedifference Innumber of ramons'

mayactuallybe a function of the available structure-,collapse habitat rather than densities ofthe treu InMaya times.

1t jLzSL L nehalf kilometerfollowing1km.,there.is a real drop inmound density matched by anaccompanying drop in ramon density,which isclearlyvisible on thegraph(fig.8), Both have probably-beeninfluencedbysemi-bajo(swamp).conditionsg apparently almost asunfavorable forramons as it must have been for Mayasettlement^ A littlefurthersouth,aslightknollwithsome mounds on it has a. slightlyhigher density of the fruittree* Here,asbefore^ this may be due to adifferencein present conditionsaswellas adiff erenceInMayatimes e At 2km.a large standoframonsunassociatedwith any visible house remains isenigmatic. The possibilitythat it is made up of thedescendantsof a grove thatexisted a thousand years'ago is'suggestedf but wouldprobably be impossible to demonstrate*tJlrfttX tJ, From thispoint on, the density of ramons

decreases steadilywith settlement,as'one descends intothe swampy bottom of the north branch of theHolmul (fig* 6).

43


53/153

.At the lowest point near thesinkhole,Tarions speciesof-vino s, Jsi|[iba (Giiadiia &p v)and'thepita (Aechmea magdalenaeAndre )',this latter used formakingstring,becomethedominants* The is completelyabsent. On the steepascent immediate ly south of.thesinkhole, beginto appear"again,though not in large numbers until.the"topof the hill Is reached. Prom a.littlebeyond3.5km.'to .3 tauramondensity remainslow in spiteof scatteredsettlement. Actually, - t h e raiaonsurvey strip,though-It

passes throughan"area of .settlementt Includes onlymound between these pointsf missingall the maingroups*If wesearched,perhaps"greater densitiesof the treewouldbe found off the 100 met er strip in closer associationwith themound groups*- -.However*"from *KOkm. to*K2km,the scarcity of raiaontreesseems'tobe attributable. toanotherfactor. Here adense grove o f - i i i a n a x -(^Gudcamediaj urlaSw.)predominates-overall other-species. This-treebears_large . .-nntities of a deliciouscherry-likefruitwhich has .afall'that follows the first fall of"the-ramon. This fruit ishighly appreciated by the localpeoplewhoha^e thedlsti^blng-propensity tofellthetrees solely for the fruit. -The density of raamx treesinthis.area Isunique In.our experience. Thegrove quitepossibly represents another' relic of Mayaarboriculture,but further study would benecessary'to bear thisoute

1 4


54/153

significantly with settlement. At thispoint it isworth comparing thedensity oframonandsettlement onthishigh ridge-top with their densitieson the. .ridge-topat7.5 km.

The high density of on this ridge is parti-cularly important to thehypothesist asheref in spiteof the small size of themounds^ thereare many morerarnons than inCentralTlkalwhere thecollapsedplatforms,palaces,and temple s are much more massive. Thiscomparisonis important evidence in support of thesuppositionthat the distributionanddensity oframons 1000 yearsago hasmoreinfluence ontheir present distributionand density than subsequent changes inecological' conditions.

Thisheavy concentration 'continues down to theedgeof thebajowhichbegins at about 55 km Thegraph is somewhat.misleading here as it indicatea drop'inramonswhich-isnot matched by settlement density. Inactuality,as can be onthe-detailed map settlementdoes not occur in thebajoatall. This discrepa ncy isan artifact in as much as,on the graph werecalculated as "threes;- per I T k i n . 1 1 on the -100m. wide survey

k 5

* f . 3 ~ 5 . 5km,: Movingup thehill,'ramon'density Increases

It is interesting to note the pr oximity of this groveof delicate fruit trees to the minorceremonial centerofBobal. The extent east and-west of thegrove isnotknown.


55/153

used by the Maya today. From themeat of.the a fine:coot ins oil isextracted^ thegreat JO^foot frondsueed extensively for thatching; and the heart of thetreeproduces a delicious"salad though it is rarely.eatenfortheobviousreasonthat thetree must be destroyed tosecure it, It may well be that thiscommunity datesbackto Maya timesand was usedby the Maya intheseways* Thepossibility that thisstandoftreeswasintroducedmight bo suggested by the comparative scarcity of thespecies in theTikal area0 Theoro_so is much morecommonfurther eastinwestern BritishHondurasand onthe upper drainage of the Usumaclntawhererainfallisheavier* At Seibalf thetreeoccurs as a dominant onthe high groundof the ruinarea* For a discussion ofmanfs role-inthedistribution of this species Johansson

*

(195?).5 . * > * - 6 . 6 km.:' Continuing on the strip',a few dooccur in the southern halfof theJ^oro^albut they,quicklybecome evenmorenumerouson thehillslopebelow the house

46

a coronal. Variousproducts of'thisbeautiful-palm

strip while settlementwas' calculatedas ffmoundsperJ|kiaefi on-thelarger500 w, widestrip. Thisbajo,moreover* Isecologicallyunusualfor the Tikal area*It comprises a community-dominatedbythe(OrbiernyacohuneMart.) islocally referred to as


56/153

groupsnearer the top at6C0km, ^Although mounds continueto occur.off to'the sides'of the'strip beyond thispointytheydo notoccuron the 100me wideramon surveystrip. Inlight ofthis,-It/isoddthat their frequencycontinueshigh out toabout 65knu ' It isperhapsnote-worthy * t h o i i g h fthat they wereall comparatively smalltree*and presumablyyoung Onthis basis itmightbesuggested.thatthese ramons around theLaguna Verde ReservoirrepresentarecentIncursion, Anotherpossibility,however,isthatthe 'softness of the soilsimply makes i t -an " a r e aunfavorable forlarger trees whichare infrequentin theareae

I f f

6.6-10.0km.:From6,6km.on out. t o 10.0 km. ramonsare practically non-existent. Prom6.6,kin.to7*0km.theLagunaVerdebajo continues,but from7*0km* to1.0*0km. typical high forest situations, as found near.CentralTikal, topredominates the one.major.difference being thelackoframons. The surveystripdoes pass over a few'mounds,however,betweenthesepoints*This leavesuswiththe problem ofexplainingwhyramonsdo not occurwith greater frequency around them; Twoexplanations can be offered, one ecological, the otherarchaeological. From the ecological standpoint Itcan be suggested-thattherewere-toofew ramons thereInMaya timestoallowthespeciestoestablishdominance*Promthearchaeological standpointIt IsInterestingto


57/153

thatthe whichwere excavatedInthis allappear t o -have-beenbuilt and occur-"A inEarlyClassictimes,' Includes.StructuresSE^}-382,SW(S)-15?f SW(S )-159SE(S)393,andSE(S)~39 tallofwhich wereexcavatedfairlycompletely. Whore occurwith.somefrequencyin all otherareason thesurveystrip XateClassicstructures predominate,' Thiasthere appears to'havebeen

anabandonment 'of the.area i n -LateClassic times, Thismaybepartof apostulatedmovetowardsamore-urbansituationat thistimeinTikal. Itis notinconceivablethatramontrees"which'mighthavestood around thesestructures InEarlyClassic times were cutdown inLate.

i"Classic times tomake room,forexpanding inilpas,100km.,whore Late Classicsettlementapparentlycontinuedf raiaondensity increases withsettlement densityin amost dramatic fashion. Thestructuresinthis are"apparentlyassociated withthesatellite site,Navajuelal,on theedgeof t h e -Holmul(S cbranch)andasegmentof thetintal orlogwood-bajo^

Ramon treeson the mainNavajuelalplatform werealsoplotted not onlybecausethey werebeing cut'downtomakeway for theexcavationsofErnestine Greene but'because they were so"numerous. Themain platforms ofNavajuelal like' those inCentralTlkal,were coveredwithhea^yplasterfloors,so it isassumedthat the

8

10.0-10.5 km.:


58/153

' inoYed up .enterthe-collapsedconstructionfrom.thesurroundingarea. Thelack - o f treeson thesurvey;stripoppositeNavajuelalas compared to.theirprevalencefin the of again'suggests though.doesnot.prove* theirassociationwith structuresrather.thantheir cultivation inplantations.

.Further south,ramondensity declinesas;the survey stripdrops Into a logwoodbajo0 Heref thetrees completelydisappear. At thev y end of thebrectea fewrainonsodourat the base of a large hill.Informalreconnaissance Indicates that more structuresare locatedfurther up the hill* off the map,,

Inordertoevaluate statisticallythevalidityofthe correlation ind icat ed by the graph (fig. 8) thestandard prod uct momentcorrelation formula(Snedecorand .Cochran196?:180)wasusedtotestthe.relationship.This formula is asfollows

'Thefollowing values taken from half kilometer"lengthsofthe survey strips.t were"used:

The Correlation:

10.5-12,0km/::

* 9


59/153

TABLE I: Values.used in the product momentcorrelation formula.

PAIRSo .o - o .50.5 - 1.0i.o - 1.51.5 - 2 . 02 . 0 -, 2 ,52 .5- 3.03.0 - 3.53.5 - 4- .0 O - ty . 54.5 - 5.05.0 - 5.55 . 5 - 6 .06 .0 - 6,56.5 - 7 .07 .0 - 7 .57 .5 - 8.08.0 - 8.58.5- 9 .09.0 - 9.59.5 -10.010.0 -10.510.5 ~ i i . o11.0-11.5

11.5 -12.0

X y( N o , of No.ofrarnons on structures onl,QOm strip) 500ra strip)

24pairs

315*"24.5 60m - 612820J i68657356135881 957683o0' i- 6 56o8

:19F5

13?333510035tf372626369956435002739

These data produce the following values for the formula;

^Though only2 * 1 - 8 'trees were actually counted here,6?were added on thebasis ofphotographs and compara*t i v e . - e s t i m a t e s - .

5 0


60/153

With thesevaluesr~0,86f which .v*ith 24 pairs Is significantat the 0,01 level (Fisherand Yates 19*1- 8 ,Table VI). Thusthe chance& for theramon-settlement correlationbeingtheresultof random chance are less than1.out of100*

This astonishingly high correlation between settlementandramontrees Isremarkably Independent of.elevation-and slope and is a statistical fact that"demandsexplanation*

Jones(19 2:65)offers threemainexplanationsfor.theassociation ofdivergent vegetationwith archaeologicalsites: " '

1. lfEnrichment;of the soilby formeroccupation,resulting in morevigorousvegetation on -the site,"2e flPhysicaland chemical alteration of the soilresulting inquali tative floral differences,11

3@ "I 1

A-concentration of economic plants during occupationand a persistence oftheseto thepresent.ff

. The facts that the ramon Is "cultivated by the Mayatodayfgr theleaffodder9 which isused to feed the'mules, andalso for Its ediblefruit,which is.used-as.amaizesubstitute,suggest thatthe third explanationIs the most likely. If the treehad littleor noknowneconomicvalue,as in other site markers such.asjj ;:an


61/153

Payum (Caton-Thompson193^1 0) Jones?thirdexplanationcouldbe fairly-safely eliminated. As it beliminated,however* we must investigate"the alternatives*Expanding somewhat onJones1 listtomeet the special,situation at Tikal* theee alternatives includeminimallythe following:

J U - The possibility that chemical changes in thesoil, resulting from Maya occupation producednew conditions especiallyfavorablefor'the raraon, .

2, The possibility that physicaldisturbance of .soilsbrought about by theMayain settlementareas producedan:;.unusualadvantage for the.tree,3, The possibility " t h a t the tree movedrapidly orwas brought into the area after Mayaabandonment**h The possibility that natural conditions 'of soil,drainage,elevation, slopef andexposure,favored by theramontree werecoincMentallyalso preferredby the. Maya for the location

'of their.settlements.Inregard to the first ofthese,itwoiild that

theadditionof-phosphorus.to'the soil.isthemost signi-ficant chemical change that might be brought about by -Maya occupation* The possibility thatany significantamounts of phosphorus would have remained long in soils

: ... . N

after abandonment unlikely. The rapid cyclingof.rainforest soils theleaching effectofheavyrainfallfsuggestthat any divergencein chemical content woi^ld soonbeequalised orremoved unless therewas aconstant'

52


62/153

source.ofreplacement. ^ The imparinanenee ofsoil chemicalchanges'of thisnature is indicated evenin wheretheywouldbevery slowas aresultofcold lowrainfall,,suchasDiskoBaytGreenland. Under aretio.conditions there the enrichment of soils produced byhuman'occupation todisappear withineight ornine hundred_years(Mathiassen193^*39K It should " b enoted, however,thatin theTikal areaCowgill(1965:23)has found a larger amount ofavailablephosphorusin soilsnear former settlementsonhigh-ground in her studyof

the Santa Pabajo' As only f ive samples were takenf andonlyone ofthesewas fromanareaof settlementttheprobability of thiscorrelation,however, is qui telow*It isqui te possible that the difference isdue,infact,to local variation in soils or perhaps to the inherent'differencesin thesoils of the logwood swamp and the'forested uplands,rather than anyresidual effect of formerKaya occupation* The samples fromTikal,presently understudyatCornell, should shednewlightonthisproblem*

Inconsidering the second possibilityt it issuggestedthat few physical changes wrought by the May in the areaof settlements, suchasthose brought aboutbycultivationor compaction,.could have.survivedthe vigorous activityofburrowing animals'including theJ;usa_ (apocketgopher,Heterogeorriys hispidus,LeConteTai%yucatanensls

53


63/153

Nelson and Goldman) tr.eeroots. - T h i s Is at least.partiallybornecut by theresounding,failureof magneto-"meter tests carried out inhouseinound ofTikal ini96l The major exception to this obliteration ofphysical changesc ofcourse is in theremainsof t h e -buildings' and platforms themselvese The largest of thesedo seemto provide'amicrohabitatthat isfavoredby theramonas hasbeen indicated.It seemsquite probable

c * .'thatthis factor accountsfor the great density of thetree on'theCentral Acropolis of Tikal and the heavy.concentrationsof it onother largebuildingsbetween0 C0km. to l ' 9 : 0 - ' l a n - . ja little further south. Oncetheelevationofthe platforms goes-belowameterortwo*howevert this effect seems to beeliminated. This lack ofconcentrationsof thetreeson building platforms canbes e e n - on thestrip from 1,0km,'to 12,0 kmc*with the.striking exceptionofNavajuelalat . 9 * 5 k ^ 1* where reallysubstantial volumes of collapsed fill occur onceagain.Thus,it appears that only really gross changes in thephysical-environment have anyeffect onthe distribution'of the t r e e - .

In.respectto thethird possibility,thebestmeans' . ' V

o f -rapid transport of the seedsoftrees intorninareaswould be by.birdsand.animals* The treeby itselfdoesn o t . appearto be equippedforrapid spread. The seeds

54


64/153


65/153

regularly carry food intheir paws or mouths. Thisincludes parrots,possiblyotherbirds,rodents-.bats,andmonkeys. Anydistributive affect brought bythese animals would tend.tobe random,however, without

;any particular orientation to ruinareas. This iswiththe exceptionof the bats which occupy-Inlarge-numbersthe vaults and inner chaiobersof the larger palacesandtemples. Individuals ofa fruit-eating germs ofTikal' .(MM1 B 'kept in capti vity in196? were.observed topick-up-ramonfruits.froma table-top and fly v r i t hthemto - a place t h e y -couldhang'from, where theyate the'fleshy receptacle around the seed by rotating it in theirforelimbs. When they had finished their meal, the seedwas dropped, Though noisy flocks of unidentif iedfrugivorousbats were seenfeedingin a Tsoltree(Cu^ania

Standl.)., the fruit is not always eaten on the spotand apparently can be carried some distance if the batshave young. The floor of the nest of the individualsmentioned abovewas found to be littered with'wholeramonand zapote seeds*

56

Walker(1964:308)saysof thebats ofthisgenus:-

"Thesmall 'fruits are carried tofeeding sitesduringthe night t but toward morning these bats carry their".fruit to their regular-roosts*...Nuts,seeds,,and fruitcores accumulate beneathroostingareas;Arfcibeusthus-aids,in the d l s s e i a inationof seeds of^T;roplcalfruits,11


66/153

least CHSspecies 01 another genus'is one 01 trie-mostAC* . 'common bats In the ruins"and.also afruit-eater(Walker. 196^1296) Walker'saccount of thisgenus makes no merit-ion'*offruit-carrying tendencies such as notedfor thegenus.ZMi Interestingly enough depositsofseedsand..

nuts have-notbeen noticed inbuildings occupiedbythisbat. Even iffruits were carried to theroost-bythisspecies,however/ thiswould only occurInareas of thelarge ceremonial structures at the center ofTikal,

.Inview of the f act that bats are occasionally foundoccupyingchultunst the possibility'that the ramonsettlamentcorrelation was relatedtothis factorwas also considered,The possibilitywas rejected,however*for tworeasons1)because of the relative scarcityofchultuns which havebeen"observed.to be sooccupied^ and 2) because theyare so often sealed with a limestone lid orfilled." The.fewnotablechultunbat coloniesatTIkalhavemoved inonlyafter thechultunswere'excavated.-Clearly.,dispersalcould be significant only in those areaswhere long-standing stone-vaultedbuildings werenumerous.Thus,it unlikely that the spread,of the raxacm after

Thebatse which occupy thevaultsand chambersoftheruins,though different,from thosealready-discussed,Include other.species. Tadarl_da.l Mcaudata2HS S2i5Sa free-tailedbat,collected from TempleI, is InsectI--vbrpusaccording toWalker,et a l c -(1964:387). But at

5?


67/153

abandonment eitherby the'tree Itselfor with theassis-tance ofanimals'e cansatisfactorily.explain the overallcorrelationof thetree with settlemente These otherpossibilitieswerepowerfularguments,when heavy concentra*.tlons appeared to:be -limited to the-mainruinarc-as. Itis only withthe data froma really large.transect that

l 'the larger patternhas emerged,.The fourth possibility,thatofcoincidental-associ-

ation* is judgedto be unlikely on thebasis"of'the strengthof the correlation and the irregular distribution of:ramons inrelation to terrain. The possibility thatthere is great difference in the soils-of theuplandsbetween? and 10kilometers,ispresently being checked,by'theanalysisof the soil samples takenat halfkilometer:.Intervalsalongthecenterofthe'surveystripin19o7, The general; simila rityof thevegetationon theuplands Tikalwi th the.uplands between7and10 kilometers would seam to precludemajor.differencesinthesoilsas a causal factor.

Insummation,the possibility that highcorrela-tion between housemound settlementand is due tophysical or chemicaldifferences in soils in associationwith former occupation highlyunlikely. It is-further-judged.unlikely that-thiscorrelationwas broughtaboutby selective.dispersionby animals or thetreesthemselves.

58


68/153

Returning to Jones1explanations,'we are left withthe possibilitythat thetreesfthrough selectiveclearingorcultivationfwere givenanoverwhelmingadvantage

over other species,duringMaya occupation Presumablyf..afterabandonment,-they able toestablishquicklydominance-andhold these positions in spite ofcompetitionuntil thepresent day. .Limctell(1937210)says f l 6 we mayassumethat the dominance is due to an Initial advantageaccruing to thespecies through itspresence"inlargenumbers when the'places wereabandoned1

' - . W ewould like toexplore now thehistorical andethnographic evidence in_support of thepossibility'thattheMaya were-actuallycultivating'these treesintheImmediatevicinities of their homes inPre-Columbian.times.

Inthis section thesub-headingsare arranged inascendingorder ofpertinenceto the hypothesis'that raiaontreeswere'grownin Pre-Columbian kitchengardens.

Hereweattempt toestablish the'importance offruitin thePre-Columbiandiet irregardlessof how it wascultivated.

EvidenceforPre-ColumbianImportanceofFruits:

MAYAARBORICULTURE

59


69/153

Landa(Tozzer19 1:198-200),writingof_Yncatanereveals that the'l6fch centuryMaya,inspite oftheirwell-developed agriculture,madeg.ood-.useoffruits.

(L.)f mamey'Colorado"There Isavery large tree which bears a large andsomewhat long and thickfruitt the fleshof whichis red andvery goodto.e a t s e c 0 l fpapaya"...anothertree,wonderfully beautif uland freshand it bears a fruit like large eggs. The Indianspick Itgreenand ripen ItIn ashes...11

"There is a,tree, spongyand ugly although large,and.bears a- certai n"kind of fruit,large, fullofyellow insidert verysavory-andwith littleseedslike he mpseedsbut much largere whichareveryhealthyfor urine, Froia this fruittheymakeagoodpreserve*^11

"There Isanothervery beautiful and fresh tree-which"never loses it leaves and bears smallsavory figs, whichthey call o x * t f

Carlea paDayaL B ,

CaloearpuiHmaminosum

60

JacartiamexlcanaD,C.

Bros imuia alicastrira Sw. 9 ramon

Other fruit treesspecificallydescribed in similarfashioninclude the-chico zapote,Manilkara zapota(L.);thep uaya, Talisia olivaeformis(H.B.K.)2 the avocado,PerseaaraericanaMill,i CereusundatusHawj Parmentiera

edulis D.C;-:Bixa orellanaL. and others. This Interest- i n fruits ishard3.y confined to the ^ Maya. The16thTotonacRelaclonde Pat>lanta reports native fruits ftinquantity,"suggesting their extensive use in.the central .Veracruzarea"(Kellyand Palerm1952:1 1).


70/153

The purpose here is to present evidence for the factthat Maya did still do actively cultivatetrees.

.Landatunfortunately,does not give us any definiteevidence as towhether-or not the just-cited fruits werecultivated. However,we be fairly-sure that theMayawereskilledarboriculturalistson'thebasisofothe?eviden.ee. As Montejo1s soldiers approached Sirisimato .in northern Yucatanf they passed through two -leaguesofwell-tended groves of incense trees 'Protiuinoml(Schlecht and Cham) outside the town {Oviedo.yValdes1 8 5 3 Hi t 230).

Landat in describing preconquest towns, suggestivelyinforms us that "They kept the land well cleared and free'fromweeds9 and planted very good trees11(To^er19 1:62).Landa does not say specifically that these were fruittreesf although they-aredescribed as such in theTozzer.translation ofHerrera (Tozzer 19^1:21?). "They foundthem living together inpueblos invery civilized fashionand they kept themclean,theweeds clearedawayandfruittrees planted,"

IntheR^laci.onofCasparAntonioChi,. a s translatedby Roys (Tozzer 1 9 * 1 - 1 : 2 3 0 ) ,we find mention offruit trees'in owned plantations,.

f l T h e lands w e r e -in commonand.(sobetweenthe townstherewerenoboundaries orlandmarkstodivide them)

61Evidence forPre-ColumbianA rboricultures


71/153

It Is interesting to note here that though landsgenerallywere held in.common,fruit tree plantations a s -well as cacao treeswere not,.This would appear to

The Kaya cultivation"oftrees seemsto involve a-sophisticated technology which is probablytraditional.To Hayes.(19 5:90)0 a1horticulturi st with considerableexperience infruitgrowing inIndia,the high degree.ofdevelopment found in the-avocado,guavaf.papayaf and'custard apple all f?indicatea fairly high type ofhorticulture11 of-someantiquity.

Evidence of asop histicatedarboricultural technologyis indicated in several modern ethnographic studies.Redfield(193 : ?)reports theuse ofgrafting at ChanKoia, Indians ofQuintanaRoo0 though theydo not practice

62

maizefieldsEvidence for airArboricultnralTechnology

Chamberlain(1953OO)'mentions that"Cacao from finecarefully cultivated groves11 .were a principle product ofthe Rio Ulua area In Honduras at'the timeof theConquest.

-.Roys(1957*161)mention s a town in southeastYucatanwhich contained2000houses'. Around it were orchards ofmamey (Calocarpurainaimnosum)and cacao treesand prosperous

emphasise theirvalueand importance.

exceptbetw een province (and anotherbecause ofwars)and In.the case ofcertainhollowsand caves,(Plantations of fruit'treesand)cacao trees* 6 f t


72/153

grafting are familiar with the techniques o f -pruning andtransplanting (Villa Rojas19^5*5?)*.Grafting amongthe Totonae*in the ecologically.similar central VeraerUEarea,ispracticedby sp eciali sts (Kelly and Paleria1952:1 1). TheChorti.aresophisticatedarboriculturists,practicing irrigation in their ownorchards. Amongthem,transplanting apparently goes on all thetime,men often

Nreturning from hunting and tradingtteipswith interestingand useful plants which are replanted in the courtyardorgarden. The average orchard contains at leasta

:dozenvarieties of fruit.tree,the most important todaybeing the"bananaand the plantain (Wisdom19^0^58)*v

.The practically instantaneous acceptanceandwild-firespread of bananas and p lantain up on their i ntroduction bythe Spaniards (ToE2er19^1*199)are suggestive of asimilar interest inarboriculture of.the Maya at the timeof contact* The impli cation that such i nterestsandattitudesexisted in Classic timesis ofcourseriskyt butit doe s provide us with a proYoeatiYe alternative to

63

explaintheTikal ramondata^Finally,inconsiderationof ..-.the rainon,the facility

with which itcanbe transplanted should be noted.Deseourtilz ( .821-33slO)repealsthat the treecanbepropagated by cuttingswhich,is one of themostconvenientmeans of propagat ion if not the easiest.


73/153

The fruit the Mayagrew" appears..to.-.havethana luxury^ The importance oftheirorchardsand grovesto;the subsistence.Is exemplified inScholesand Roys1study'of ancient documents relating'to the Maya ChontalIndians where welearnthat Spanish were apparentlyable to increase greatly the effectiveness,offorcedpopulation movementsby cutting down thetrees ofTillage

l There is also evidence that Pesquerahad the.cacao and copal trees cut down atAca3sn*Itzanlcanacin order to compel the abandonment of the oldcapital and to discourage disertions from Tixchelfl(ScholesandRoys19 8:171-172}fflnaccordance with.Governor Pegueroafs instructionsthe fruit trees atTzuctokand Ichbalchewere cutdown and thehousesburned todiscourage the Indians'from returning.to their old locations,t:' (ScholesandRoys19 8:288)The use -of the same,technique.Is described in the

Relacion"ofDzonottfAnd this ToBias Lopez responsible for themoving and'for thedeath of so.great .anumber ofpeople ashavediedf because theIndians that

since'they ordered themto moveby.force and burnedtheir'-houses cut down their fruit trees which theyowned,. . l s

Turning n o w t o rarnon,Thompson-,working i n - .BritishHondurass had opportunities toobserve theimportance ofthis tree in subsistence andite significance as a seiiii-o.mltlvated tree.

64

orchards.

Evidencefor.the 'Importance ofPre-ColumbianArboricultures

(Tozzer 19iH':?2)..


74/153

65

Hefurther notes-(ibid),"Thereis noinformationas towhether itwas-cultivated inPre-Spanish times^11"

-Inspite of-these references which appear todemonstrateratherconclusivelyatraditionoffruit treecultivation,which goes back to thetimeof the conquestftherearevery fewreferences which actually describe,fruit treesbeinggrown inkitchen gardens or incloseassociationwithresidentialareae. Since thisis thepatternindicated by theTikaldatap it is-mportant toexplorethispoint. .Archaeological evidence is scarce^though.suggestive evidence"is"provided by the.famousmuralsin the-Temple of theWarriors and theTemple of theTigersat Chichen ltEatwhere treesareshownInassociationwith dwellings.(Morris193U.

Turningtohistorical evidencefChamberlain(1953-66)-published aletter fromMontejoto theKing ofSpaininwhich it isstated thatIJ...all thetownsare(veritable)fruit -gardens.11 Though thesecolonial panegyrics must

t Thebread-nuttree(Brosimumalieastrum)is not inthe .true acultivatedplant asthereis nodifference betweenthecultivated treesandthosegrowing wi ld'i n theforest. Neverthelesstheplantis ofsuch economic'importance that it seemsbesttoclass it as one - o f thecultivatedg r o u p,0cthemodern Mayato acertainextent purposely plantsbread-nut trees"Inandaround hisTillages or atleast abstains from cutting down those thatarealreadygrowing,f '.(Thompson1930:185).

Evidence forPre-ColumbianKitchenGardenA rboriculture:


75/153

66betakenwith a grain'ofsalt, It Mould appear to implythe.growing of'fruit within the residential nucleus ofthetown,

.L&'nda'says f in describingthegrowingofI ncho argi^longlstylusP Itt ef the roots of which were used to make)kiMVfMwMCnMkWMa WMaBMW ' *theIntoxicating drinkb lgh ".. willspeak of winea thing whichtheIndiansesteemed 'highlyand soalmostall ofthem planted It in their yards or spaces around .theirhouses, 11 (Tozzer19 1:198).. Here at.last wehave a specific reference to contact time arboriculturein-kitchengardens, though it is not a fruit tree* .Moreconclusive Is a quote from the t Relacionde los PueblosdeChuaca y deCheehtmula"(Colleccicnde DoeumentosInedltos1900:69),sent to the King of Spain about1577* i f . .likewise he ordered them to set fire to all the'fruittrees which they had behind their housesInthe said town. 11 (trans,by Wauchope '193.8:133). For"thePeten we have at least O^B"fairlycertain reference tokitchen gardening in the I?**1century* FatherAvendano(Means1917*156)provides this Important datum inthedescription of hisdeparture fromYalain0 a.town/apparently west of LakePeten,",..,anIndian,.* guidedus to theother f a ri i i s f half a league from there* which'from the abundance offruitt appeared an orchard, 11 -ItIsfairlyclear fromearliermaterialin the text that'these"farms"are Individuallyassociated with houses.


76/153

. - Turning. ROW tomorerecent ethnographicdata* we.find numerous referencestokitchen garden arboriculture9thoughto'besure,these data are'ofdiminishing reliability;whenIt comestodrawing inferencesfor Classict l i n e s As already been mentioned t the ChertI areconstantlytransplantingusefuland ornamental trees intokitchengardens around theirhouses, Wauehope f in hisbooklisAES 53EJSl (1938:129)* Includesa sketch planofatypicalMaya backyard in whichthe presenceoffruittrees isIndicated,, He comments onthe Yueateean 1sloveoftheir fruit treesand thefact that awealthy 'Indianmayhavemany treeson ,'hisproperty. , Guatemalanhouses, especiallyIn the AltaVeraPas are sometimesalmost hidden by surrounding (fruit). trees(Includingcoffee)orcornstaeks* 11'(Wauchope1938:199)*

The'Tajin Totonac8though they plant trees i n . b o t h -the-milpaand in houseclearings, preferto plantthemin thelatterto better protectthefruits from birdsandtheravages of thearrlera ant (Kelly and Palerm '1952s1*H).

As anIndicationof thebroaddistribution"of this.practlcetit'may beadded^ thatsplendidkitchenorchards"aremaintained'in Nlooya p CostaRica (Wagner1958). In.reference to the r a i n o n *Lund ell (1938 : * K L )notes that ." irlnevery"villageof themodern" Kaya" In ~th8:Tucatan.Peninsula I t ' (theramon) Is.one 'of the mostconspicuoustreestbeing plantedin dooryardsf along fences*t inth e streets,11 .


77/153

lii - /;^ 68 / ' ; , ' . ; . ' . ' ' * ;In so far asreferencesfor the southern MayaLowlands

are concerned,Thompson(1930)doesnot specificallynotethecultivation of theramon in houseyards or kitchengardens of 'southern British Honduras* but a photographoframon treesin a Peten kitchen garden* taken in196?,isshown in fig. 9* The house is located in therelatively remote village of Dolores in the southeastPeten, Questioning revealed thattheowner* a man ofKayadescent* got thetreesstarted,withthe intentionofutilizing then for .fodderand*food. Whether theywere transplanted or planted is notknown. - T h i sinformationissupported by thefact that raraonsdo notappeartogrowin the immediate vicinity of the village. It isperhaps for this very reason that the photographed treesstand alone in defianceof a local ordinance which requiredalllarger trees in the village to be cut down some yearsago. It is doubted thatthey"will.standmuchlonger*

USEOF THERAMON, A S Ajr,STAPLE

HistoricalEvidence^Turning now to specific historicalevidencefor theuse of the ramon in subsistence* we have already noted

Landa'sreference to the fruit as lfsavoryfigs11 (Tozzer19^1:199)tand FatherAvendano's wistful reference tothe fruitless trees (itwas early February)heencounteredinhis harrowing exodus fromTayasal (Means191?:16?).


78/153

Figure9: Ramon trees growing Inakitchen garden,Dolores,ElPeten. (Photobythe author)

69


79/153

In theBook/; of Chllam Balaiaof Chumayel, thefruitof theramon 8along with tworoot crops c u p ( C a l o^ -j^ c/ i m i i ) ;ceruleumBenth. ) and; the batun (Aiithurium t^tiragcnaiii^Var^

j u c a t e i i f ; l :_s Engl ) is significantly associated withfamine/ In oneparticularly dire prophecy whereit. is'foretoldthat"vultures will enterthehouses f t it i s'recorded that ri..*thebread-nut (ramon)shall be theirbread11 (Roys1933:122)v Tozzer (19^1:199),in- footnote108^f writes."Withthe eu|> two plantsappear almost asa symbolof famine in theProphecieSe 11 Thisis'clearly. i n reference to use of the seedto makemeal whereinalso liesthe origin of the Creole name ffbreadnutft (Bartlott1935:18). . ; , . . -

These"references clearly indicate the remarkablereliabilityof the ramon and certain root cropsas foodsourcesin northern Yucatan when all .theregular crops,failed.ThlSisa most important point in .spiteofthefamineassociation which might betaken to indicatethat these foods virtuallyinedible, H'-h. - t : = .^2

Thereis no evidencewhatsoever to indicate thattheramon as afoodis inedibleor that Ithas anydebilitatingeffect.on those.who eatit f in fact theevidenceis quiteto the contrary as"shallbe seen. Muchas thetipperclasses of Guatemala Mexicotodaywouldbe forced togiveup their bolilios (white wheat breadrolls)'andeat tortillas in the evertof afamine,the.YuoatecanMayamay have been forcedto cat the ramon.


80/153

7 1 ;J'kxler Eviônoe:.

. . - Reminiscent of the role of theramon,in the Book-of C h i l a i i i Balam t Is the statement of aTaj In Totonao -Informant that in former times of famine,,the Totonaosubsisted,on the ojdtje(ramon)-"collected^ shelled^boiledwith, salti or they are stewed with brown orwhitesugar,11 (Kelly and Paleria1952:163).'Roys(1931:272}recordsthat among the Yucatecan Maya e "the.boiledfruit is eaten alone or with honey and cornmeal efKartineE(1959S)says that thevjfrl&ui'sprepared as a"conserva"(sweetmeat), Garni(1918:2 3)reports that Slhendriedthey are ground into ameal^ from which r x k i n dof breadIsmade,and they are also boiled and made into sweetmeat,11Ifappears possible.in this case that the seedsare notcookedin. he preparation of the meal.

In regard to the other species* Calderon(1941:8?) says that the fruit of the Br^sjjaugiterjSSSHH s atenafter.cooking,inSalvador. Allen(1956:142)furtherreports t h a t -thefruit of the BrosJjMii terrabajrom is usedin parts of Nicaragua to.make tortillas. In thearea"ofTula* Guatemala f the seedsof BôsjjQmmt rabajium_ a r e boiled eaten or made into a sort of tortilla(Standley-19^6*16). A specimen ofB^psliaiim'j staricanumI - - h a v e seen .inthe collections of the Philadelphia Academy& . : Nat\3.ra2fSciences hasfruits virtually identical tothose of.Bro^jjiiil "lêastriii]i (fig. 1Q) 9 Use of theramon


81/153

Figure 10: Specimen ofBrosimunicostar_i_canumfromthe collection of the Philadelphia Academyof Natural Sciences. ;?2


82/153

- 7 3in these areas appears to be limited r. perhapsbecauseof the reliabilityof themllpa t or as theTotonac,because.ofthereliabilityof the'bananasand plantains.Inthis light,Thompson'sreport(1930:185)of the systematiccollection ofthe fruit in large quantities by theMayaof southern andcentralBritish Honduras isparticularlyinterestingi ".^inthe months of April and M ay P O e l tisgathered in large quantities. The outer covering iseatenraw, The kernels are either boiled'or t afterbeing steeped In water or lime @ are ground and mixedwith MaiEeto maketortillas*11

Today,theramoncontinues to be of Importance to.subsistence Invariousparts of the Peten in Guatemala cIn 196? T7hcnthere was a'shortage of corn early Intheyear/villagersof Dolores went several miles Intothe jungleto collect the fruit of this tree(personalinformation).

After thefall,when the fruit Is still fresh ontheground,the rather tasty' fleshmaybe peeled off theseedand eaten as mentioned byThompson* .Though thisIs'notpreserved today t It is notinconceivablethatthisportion of 'thefruit might have been preserved bythefamiliarprocesses of drying or smoking in formertimes, Note the'reference to fruit' preservationalready quotedin .Landa*s description of JacarfctamexieanaD.C. (TozzeT19 1:200}. The seeds which'remain


83/153

afterthe fleshIB either r e m o v e d t - eaten off by i n s - a c t s or d f r t e dup* can be collectedin large quantities withrelativeease,

Thefollowing recipefor ramon tortillas collectedinTikal-fromEliasContreras alocalworkman fromDoloresand of,Mayadescent,who wasgiven'5Ibs. of'theseed t oprepare, . -

l c Placethe fleshed seeds in a large-cooking potandcoverthem with water*Z. m Add a handful of ashes from the fire p and bollfor.abouthalfanhour. (Thisboilingandaddition of ash is apparently .toremove t h e -slight bitterness of theseed which is probablyattributable to a certain amount of "tanninInthe fruit.3* After removal of the pot from the fire* the waterIsallowed to cool a bit g then it Is poured offand theseeds are washed with clean water.*K The seeds Biaynow be eaten but generally they - a r e ground Into paste. This grinding Is donetodaywithlittlehandmi11s.though formerlythe familiarSgjnoan( Eii.wouldha ebeenusede5* Ellasadded theapparently modern ingredients 0manteca {hydrogenated eottenseed oil of Guatemalanmanufacture),aground-up stickofcinnamon^- and sugar. In former times and probablyoccasionally today thoney would be substitutedforsugar,

. 6 * The paste is kneaded- into tortillas which 1are.cooked'onbananaleaves becauseoftheir fragility- in comparison to cornsiealtortillas* Inview ofthe supposedly latearrivalof tortillas in theMayaarea,it is Interesting thatEllasreportedthatthe paste is sometimes kneaded into littleloaveswhichareactually baked Insidethetypicaltable-hearthoven* (Thetortillaswereeatenand found to be tasty with a flavor 'ratherlike.thatof unleavenedbranmuffins*)

74


84/153

75The seeds9 - s i m p l y -boiled g taste like potatoes,

accordingto Gann(1918:2 3). Standley(1920-26)they tastelikechestnuts. We, however would compare themtosomething a little more tasteless5" perhaps they arebestdescribedas acombinationofsomethingwith the.consistency.of soggy chestnuts withaflavorofbrazilnuts. Theopinion of Descourtllz(1821-33 10) as aFrenchmanmay be ofassistance here: * . - : . ;

l Ces fruits sonttres-bons,soltgrilles,soitbouillisjon ne pent irdeux les comparer qufauxehatalgnes (chestnuts)d fSuropeileur substenceest.farineuseet d fungout,tres-saTCureuxi ellenfapasl fInconvenient cle surcharger l festomaeetd foccaslonerdesflatuosites. l

Lego,calEvidence:- 'As an Introduction to this section, the'following

list of forBroslmumg i -- gis -presented. This-list isprobablyincomplete. References'for each and.localityof occurence are given. Apparently ruminativetermsare asterisked,

liSM ^ l ^JLB5^^S^I^,^^^^S^S^aja Chiapas (Martinez19S9a)ajah Chiapas (Martinez1959b)ajash -Chiapas (Souza^Novela1950)ajocosochitl-'; Oaxaca (Martinez "1959b)

5/26/2018 1968_brosimum Alicastrum as a Subsistence Alternativ

1968_brosimum alicastrum as a subsistence alternative for the classic maya of central southern...

Documents