Food and feasting in the zona maya of quintana roo

Abstract

Skeletal analysis shows that the ancient Maya typically obtained about 75% of their calories from maize (White 1999, passim). In some areas, they ate more seafood or root crops, and maize dropped to around 50% (Magennis 1999; Staller et al. 2006; White et al. 2006). Maize is a C4 plant; other common Maya foods are primarily C3 plants. This refers to different pathways for metabolizing carbon; the C4 pathway is more efficient than the C3 under very hot conditions, and is thus commonest among plants of hot, sunny, tropical areas. The C3 pathways works better under cooler conditions. These photosynthetic pathways leave different carbon isotope signatures in the people or animals that eat these plants. Thus, analysis of skeletons can tell us how much maize people ate (Reed 1999). Usually, the Maya ate much maize, and so did their one domestic mammal (the dog) and so did two of their favorite game animals - peccaries and pacas - who lived by robbing milpas. Deer, however, ate more C3 food (Reed 1999), though they ate enough C4 to prove they had been raiding gardens - or, locally, raised in captivity, possibly for sacrifice (White et al. 2006), though modern Maya raise deer simply as pets or for food.1 © 2010 Springer-Verlag New York.