Maya Salt Works
eBook - PDF

Maya Salt Works

  1. 255 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Maya Salt Works

About this book

In Maya Salt Works, Heather McKillop details her archaeological team's groundbreaking discovery of a unique and massive salt production complex submerged in a lagoon in southern Belize. Exploring the organization of production and trade at the Paynes Creek Salt Works, McKillop offers a fascinating new look at the role of salt in the ancient Maya economy. McKillop maps over 4,000 wooden posts and wedges, the first known wooden structures preserved underwater from the Classic period, describing new methods of underwater archaeology developed specifically for this shallow maritime setting. She explains the technology of salt production, examining fragments of briquetage—the pots that boiled brine over fires in the kitchens—and provides evidence that salt workers relied on specific types of wood for building construction. McKillop theorizes that different households operated salt kitchens and distributed their goods via canoe to sell at inland marketplaces for use as dietary salt, a flavor enhancer, and preservative. Complex distribution networks reveal expertise in water transportation and knowledge of the sea by Maya mariners, skills that allowed them to control the transport of commodities like salt. By evaluating the scale, concentration, intensity, and context of the Paynes Creek Salt Works, McKillop provides a model for interpreting existing salt works sites as well as future discoveries along the Yucatán Peninsula. A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase

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Yes, you can access Maya Salt Works by Heather McKillop in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Archaeology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. MAYA SALT WORKS
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. CONTENTS
  6. List of Figures
  7. List of Tables
  8. Foreword
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. 1. Economics of Maya Salt
  11. 2. Discovery and Mapping Underwater
  12. 3. Briquetage and the Technology of Salt Production
  13. 4. The Infrastructure of Salt Production: Wooden Architecture
  14. 5. Wood Selection for the Salt Kitchens
  15. 6. Labor, Production, and Identity
  16. 7. Marketing Salt, Salted Fish, Cacao, and Marine Products
  17. 8. Salt: A Mover and Shaker in Ancient Maya Society
  18. Notes
  19. References Cited
  20. Index