From Ritual to Refuse: Faunal Exploitation by the Elite of Chinikihá, Chiapas, during the Late Classic Period

Description

'From Ritual to Refuse' explores the faunal exploitation by the Maya elite at the site of Chinikihá, Chiapas, during the end of the Late Classic period (AD 700-850) by applying zooarchaeological and statistical analyses to a faunal assemblage located in a basurero or midden behind a palatial structure at the core of the site. This deposit has been interpreted as the result of one or various feasting events. The aim is to investigate temporal changes of function, more specifically during periods of increasing political competitiveness. Moreover, these analyses suggest that there is a change in the use of faunal resources, from a ritual pattern to a more general refuse deposit. The results from the zooarchaeological analysis are supported by a dietary analysis using δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes conducted on human and faunal samples. The results from the faunal assemblage suggest that there was a constant supply of animals for ritual and non-ritual uses, and that these animals were mostly obtained in the wild. Cover Title Page Copyright page Contents Page List of Figures Preface Problem statement Research problem Introduction Aims Research design Defining a feast Chapter one Theoretical background to feasting: activities in archaeology Feasting as a repetitive behaviour Feasting and social change The role of feasts Feasts and the religious sphere Feasts and the social sphere Feasts and the political sphere Feast and social inequality Anthropological markers of feasting Specific fauna and botanical products Table 1. Archaeological signatures of feasts (Modified from Hayden 2001:40). Food preparation and presentation Location of preparation and feasting areas Location of disposal features Correlating the anthropological markers with the archaeological record Zooarchaeological markers for feasting High density of faunal and ceramic remains Table 2. Feasting markers and their material correlates in archaeology (Modified from Twiss 2008:420, Table 1). Special location or in a setting in association with ritual activities Associated cooking and preparation areas Special foods, rarely eaten or costly to obtain Storage facilities for food, and storing vessels Special contexts that may be discrete deposits High proportions of symbolically important species Focus on one species and low species diversity High frequency of young or immature animals High proportions of butchered and processed remains Presence of articulated remains Taphonomic modifications of bones in feasting contexts Feasting in mesoamerica and the maya area Feasts and social inequality Domestic, state-controlled feasting, and gender relations Limitations in identifying feasting in the archaeological record Identifying the nature of the deposit Presence of faunal remains in different contexts Chapter two The presence of faunal remains in different contexts: the Maya case The taphonomic history of the deposit: different types of context, same materials? The importance of identifying the context Political interaction in the Maya lowlands during the late Classic period Independent sites and intra-site relationships: the hieroglyphic evidence Chapter three Chinikihá and the sociopolitical situation during the maya classic period Figure 1a. Emblem glyphs for Chinikihá (original drawings courtesy of Simon Martin, reproduced with permission). Figure 1b. Emblem glyphs for Palenque (original drawings courtesy of Simon Martin, reproduced with permission). Site description and previous archaeological works Figure 2. Geographical location of Chinikihá (study area) (credit: Coral Montero López). Palenque and Chinikihá: The regional setting Figure 3. Geographical location of the archaeological site of Chinikihá (credit: Coral Montero López). Figure 4. Palenque region and the five sub-regions as defined by Liendo (1996) (modified from López 2005:46). Figure 5. Proposed chronology for Palenque (shaded area represents the main occupation phases at Chinikihá) (modified from Montero 2008:72, Figure 5; Sharer and Traxler 2006:98, Table 2.2). Chinikihá during the Late classic/Terminal period Figure 6. Spheres of influence during the Classic period (modified from Anaya et al. 2003). The maya collapse during the classic period The socio-political hypothesis The environmental hypothesis The dietary failure model, diet and differential access to natural resources during the Late classic/Terminal period A) Temporal differences in the consumption of corn in the Maya region B) Temporal differences in the consumption of meat in the Maya region Chapter four Description of the Chinikihá assemblages Table 3. Total NISP of faunal material analysed in the present study (this excludes the 2009 fieldwork; note that these numbers do not include shell fragments). Description of the excavations Operación 110 Figure 7. Location of Operaciones 110, 111, 112, and 114 at Chinikihá (modified from Liendo 2010:5, Figure 1, reproduced with permission). Figure 8. Location of Operación 110 (Liendo 2009a:135, reproduced with permission). Figure 9. Location of Operaciones 111, 112, and 115 (Liendo 2009b:159, reproduced with permission). Operaciones 111, 112 and 115 Table 4. Summary of burial identification at Chinikihá (modified from Liendo 2009b:210-211, Table 1). Operación 201 (Chancalá) Figure 11. Location of Operación 202 in the core of the site of San Juan Chancalaíto (Liendo 2009b:311, reproduced with permission). Figure 10. Location of Operación 201 in the core of the site of Chancalá (Liendo 2009b:308, reproduced with permission). Figure 12. Location of Operación 114 (from Liendo 2009b:215, reproduced with permission). Operación 202 (San Juan Chancalaíto) Operación 114 Figure 13. Detail of the location of Operaciones 1, 2, and 3 during PRACH 2006 (modified from Liendo 2007a, Figure 5, reproduced with permission). Figure 14. Sketch of the excavation grid of Operación 114 (shaded squares were excavated during PRACH 2008) (modified from Trabanino 2008 reproduced with permission). Figure 16. Profile of excavation showing the stuccoed floor (from Liendo 2009b:217, reproduced with permission). Figure 15. Operación 114, located behind the back wall of the Palace and north of the South Platform (modified from Liendo 2009b:216, reproduced with permission). Figures 17 and 18. Hypothetical reconstruction of an incised tripod vessel (left), and a Murciélagos-Balunté ceramic complex (right) for Chinikihá (courtesy of Esteban Mirón, reproduced with permission). Other archaeological materials recovered from Operación 114 Situating Operación 114 in a chronological framework Using the ceramic complex as a temporal proxy Figure 19. Incised turtle plaque with the glyph ‘he/she was born’ (original drawing courtesy of Peter Mathews, reproduced with permission). Figure 20. White-venison tamale logogram, or ta SAK-chi-hi-li WAJ (K6080), and ta SAK-ki CHIJ ji-li WAJ on a plate from Uaxactun (circled in red) (modified from Zender 2000:1044, Figure 10). Figure 21. Examples of ceramic plates possibly for serving tamales: A) three-legged plate with incised decoration from Operación 114; Chinikihá (from Mirón 2012, reproduced with permission); B) plate with waaj glyph from Temple XV, Palenque (modified from Figure 22. AMS dates from Operación 114 showing square/layer. Direct dating Table 5. AMS dates for Chinikihá (Calibrated with CalPal, http://www.calpal-online.de, accessed on 24 October 2011). Summary Chapter five Zooarchaeological methodology Zooarchaeological analysis Figure 23. Remains of a tripod plate, underneath which faunal bones were found, from PRACH 2008 (from Liendo 2010, reproduced with permission). Limitations Defining the variables Specimen count Number of Identified Specimens (NISP) Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI) Minimum number of elements (mne) and skeletal completeness Minimum number of elements (MNE) Skeletal completeness Table 6. Comparison between different classifications of skeletal elements. Minimum of animal units (MAU) and food utility index (FUI) Taxonomic identification Analysis by location Diversity index Age, sex, seasonality and mortality profiles Age Sex Seasonality and mortality profiles Figure 24. Mortality profiles (modified from Byers and Hill 2009:303; Figure 3). Taphonomic modifications Degree of fragmentation and type of fracture Faunal modifications Human modifications Figure 25. Sequence of bone perforator production (in the form of needle) in the L4-3 assemblage in Dos Pilas (modified from Emery 2009:464, Figure 6a). Weathering stages Table 7. Weathering stages according to Behrensmeyer (1978). Presenting the results and interpretation Chapter six Theoretical background to isotope analysis Use of isotope analysis and its justification A theoretical background Isotopes in the environment Stable isotopes in bone tissues Plant ingestion, canopy effect, and tissue fractionation Isotope measurements A) Identifying maize consumption through carbon isotope analysis B) Identifying animal protein consumption through nitrogen isotope analysis Brief description of isotope analysis in the maya area Figure 26. Sites mentioned throughout this work (modified from Emery 2004e: 2). Isotope methodology and techniques Extracting collagen Extracting apatite Bone preservation and diagenesis Collagen yield Proportion of carbon and nitrogen (%C and %N) Atomic ratio of carbon to nitrogen in collagen (C/N) Crystallinity index (CI) Sampling Creating a diet baseline for Chinikihá Ancient Maya ‘menu’ Modern plant and animal samples Archaeological faunal and human samples Table 8. Modern reference samples with δ13C and δ15N values. Table 9. Enamel samples from archaeological teeth. Sampling teeth Sampling bone Table 10. Collagen samples from dentine and long bone for δ13C and δ15N analyses (‘x’ indicates existence of sample). Results Specimens count Chapter seven Results of the zooarchaeological analysis Number of identified specimens (NISP) and taxonomic identification Table 11. Summary of NISP, MNI, and weight for all materials by Operación. Table 12. Summary counts for the whole Chinikihá assemblage. Minimum number of individuals (MNI) Table 13. NISP, MNI and weight by Species per Operación (worked bone not included). Distribution of skeletal elements Diversity index Table 14. Percentage of deer, dog, and human remains present by Operación. Table 15. Distribution of skeletal elements (NISP) by Operación, grouped by Order: Artiodactyla (regular), Carnivora (Bold), Lagomorpha (underlined), humans (h), and other fauna (*). Table 16. Results for richness, heterogeneity, evenness, and diversity index by Operación. Importance of taxa represented Artiodactyla Table 17. Comparison of the Shannon-Weaver’s Diversity index for other Maya sites. Carnivora Lagomorpha Edentata Rodentia Perissodactyla Testudines Shell remains Figures 27 and 28. ‘La Cueva del Shote’, restaurant in Palenque, Chiapas (left) where a snack made of jute snails (Pachychilus sp.) cooked with momo leaves (Piper spp.) is still served nowadays (right) (Photographs by Coral Montero López). Origin of fauna by environmental zone Table 18. Distribution by habitat of faunal resources present in the Chinikihá assemblage. Temporal and geographic variation in faunal consumption Figure 29. Distribution of environmental zones around Chinikihá (modified from Trabanino 2012:231, Figure 7.3, reproduced with permission). Analysis by location: results Operación 110 Operaciones 111, 112, and 115 Operación 114 Table 19. NISP and MNI calculations for Operación 110. Table 20. NISP and MNI calculations for Operación 111. Table 21. NISP and MNI calculations for Operación 112. Table 22. NISP and MNI calculations for Operación 115. Operación 201 (Chancalá) Operación 202 (San Juan Chancalaíto) Table 23. NISP and MNI calculations for Operación 114. Table 24. NISP and MNI calculations for Operación 201. Table 25. NISP and MNI calculations for Operación 202. Identification of age and sex Age Figure 30. Degree of fusion present for all fauna (based on NISP). Table 26. Age categories for identified fauna from all Operaciones. Sex Taphonomic modifications Degree of fragmentation and type of fracture Figure 31. Distribution of species with an age identification in months (%NISP represent the total of each identified species). Table 27. Distribution of fragmented and complete bones for all Operaciones. Table 28. NISP:MNI ratio for all species. Presence of articulated remains Figure 32. Distribution of complete and fragmented bones for all the assemblage (%NISP). Table 29. List of white-tailed deer bones that articulate, by square and layer, Operación 114. Presence of burned material Faunal modifications Figure 33. Semi-articulated spinal column from a white-tailed deer in Operación 114, Square I2, Layer V (Photograph by Coral Montero López). Table 30. Distribution of burned bones by Operación. Human modifications Processing of dietary taxa Table 31. Frequency of modified specimens by fauna for all Operaciones. Table 32. Distribution of bones showing animal modifications (combined). Table 33. Distribution of cut marks by species for all the identified material from PRACH 2008. Figure 34. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) atlas with perpendicular cut marks on the dorsal side, from Operación 114, Square E2, Layer V (Photograph by Coral Montero López). Table 34. Distribution of worked bone from Chinikihá. Figure 35. Bone needles from Operación 114 (from left to right: one fragmented and one complete needle from Square K1/Layer IV; one complete needle from Square F2/Layer V, and one fragmented needle from Square J2/Layer IV (Photograph by Coral Montero Lóp Figure 36. Carved white-tailed deer mandible with incised glyphs and incisions, Operación 114 (Photograph by Coral Montero López). Figure 37. Hypothetical reconstruction of the carved mandible (modified from a drawing by Peter Mathews, reproduced with permission). Weathering stages Figure 38. Worked bone in the shape of a hand or manita from Operación 114 (Photograph by Coral Montero López). Table 35. Weathering stage for all the Operaciones (following Behrensmeyer 1978). Correlating the faunal assemblage by context Table 36. Grouping of materials by weathering Stages 0-2 and 3-4. Summary Chapter eight Detailed analysis of Operación 114 Table 37. NISP distribution of species by square, Operación 114. Part one: Testing for a spatial patterning Distribution of the material by square and layer Figure 39. Distribution of faunal remains and serving vessels by Square in Operación 114 (modified from Mirón 2012, reproduced with permission). Table 38. NISP distribution of species by layer in Operación 114. Distribution by age Distribution by sex Table 39. NISP distribution of white-tailed deer and age groups by layer, Operación 114. Figure 40. Distribution by age groups for white-tailed deer in Operación 114. Table 40. Distribution of white-tailed deer by sex in Operación 114. Figure 41. Distribution of white-tailed deer remains by age category and their location regarding the floor in Operación 114. Mortality and seasonality profiles Mortality profile Seasonality profile Figure 42. Mortality profile for white-tailed deer in Operación 114 by age cohorts. Figure 43. Frequency (in percentage) for white-tailed deer mandibles by combined seasonality. Distribution of faunal modifications and environmental modifications Carnivore chewing Rodent gnawing Weathering stages Table 41. Distribution of individuals per layer and season for teeth in Operación 114. Figure 44. Distribution of white-tailed deer bones with presence of carnivore chewing and rodent gnawing in Operación 114. Part two: testing for processing patterns Distribution of anatomical regions Table 42. Distribution of skeletal regions by layer based on NISP for white-tailed deer in Operación 114. Figure 45. Weathering stage by layer (%NISP) for white-tailed deer, Operación 114. Figure 46. NISP distribution by body portion for white-tailed deer, Operación 114 (modified from Reitz and Wing 1999:171). Figure 47. Distribution of body portions (%NISP) above and below the floor in Operación 114. Table 43. Distribution of articulated units considering the presence of floor (note that several bones may be included in each unit). Figure 48. Distribution of body portions by age group (%NISP) for white-tailed deer in Operación 114. Table 44. NISP Distribution of white-tailed deer and domestic dog body parts (modified from Emery 2010:199). Figure 50. Skeletal completeness distribution for white-tailed deer by age group in Operación 114. Figure 49. Ratio of expected to observed skeletal regions for white-tailed deer, Operación 114. Figure 51. Ratio of expected to observed skeletal regions for domestic dog in Operación 114. Figure 52. Skeletal completeness comparison between Chinikihá, Cueva de los Quetzales and Group L4-3. Table 45. Distribution of NISP, MNE, MAU, and %MAU values for white-tailed deer. Minimum number of elements (MNE) and minimum animal units (MAU) Food utility index (FUI) Figure 53. Distribution of MNE and MAU for white-tailed deer, Operación 114. Table 46. Food Utility Index (FUI) distribution by skeletal element. Figure 54. Distribution of skeletal elements ranked by observed/expected index. Bone fragmentation Table 47. NISP values for complete and fragmented bones, by skeletal element (unidentified fragments are not included). Figure 55. Distribution of small/medium and medium/large mammal bone fragments by skeletal element. Patterns of cut marks Table 48. Presence of cut marks on white-tailed deer bones (NISP) by layer in Operación 114. Table 49. Presence of cut marks on white-tailed deer bone distributed by age groups in Operación 114. Patterns of skinning, dismemberment, and butchering Table 50. Distribution of cut marks by type and body portions for white-tailed deer in Operación 114. Table 51. Distribution of cut marks on white-tailed deer bones, grouped by articulation in Operación 114. Burned bone Part three: testing for rituality Figure 56. Presence of cut marks by body portion (%NISP) for white-tailed deer, Operación 114 (modified from Reitz and Wing 1999:171). Figure 57. ‘Deer Hunting Processing’: stuccoed polychrome ceramic vessel from the Highlands in Guatemala, c. 700-900 DC (from http://www.famsi.org, vessel K808 from the Kerr Archives; Montero 2008:142, fig. 60). Deer haunch sidedness Distribution of human remains Table 52. Distribution of burned bones by their presence above (Layers I-III) and under (Layers IV-V) the floor. Table 53. Distribution of sidedness for identifiable bones (NISP), for Operación 114. Table 55. Summary of human remains present in Operación 114. Table 54. Distribution of left-side elements in Layers I-III and Layers IV-V. Table 56. Distribution of human bones by their location under (Layers IV-V) or above the floor (Layers I-III) in Operación 114 (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of bones with cut marks). Figure 58. Human clavicles with evidence of fresh fractures on proximal epiphyses, and cut marks on diaphyses (showed by black arrow) Operación 114 (Photograph by Coral Montero Lopez). Distribution of dog remains Comparison between white-tailed deer, dog, and human remains Figure 59. Comparison between the distribution of body portions for white-tailed deer and domestic dog in Operación 114 (%NISP). Table 57. Distribution of the deer, dog, and human remains by Layer in Operación 114. Table 58. Distribution of all categories by layer in Operación 114. Summary Chapter nine Results of the isotope analysis Diagenesis at Chinikihá Proportion of carbon and nitrogen (%C and %N) Ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) Crystallinity index (CI) Limitations of the isotopic analysis Table 59. δ13C and δ15N values from collagen for faunal samples under study. Table 60. δ13C and δ15N values from collagen for human samples under study. Table 61. δ13C values from enamel apatite for animal and human samples under study. Results Reconstruction of the palaeodiet Figure 60. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios for modern and archaeological samples at Chinikihá. Boxes indicate the parameters for C3 and C4 plants, as well as for herbivorous animals, freshwater fish, and freshwater snail meat. Figure 61. Bimodal distribution of δ13C values for humans and fauna from Chinikihá. Fauna Humans Corn consumption by fauna and humans Table 62. Proportion of corn consumption by animals and humans at Chinikihá (from cortical bone samples). Figure 62. Distribution of δ13C and δ15N results for Chinikihá samples, showing trophic levels. Deer domestication: Is it possible to identify? Differences by age, sex, and status among the human samples Differences by age: Dietary changes from childhood to adulthood Table 63. Age group by tooth sampled for the δ13Csc, δ13Cden, Δ13Csc-den, and δ15N. Figure 63. Differences between childhood and adulthood diet in the human samples (note that the length of the lines connecting both diets is equivalent to Δ13Csc-lgbn). Figure 64. ‘Spacing’ between δ13C collagen and apatite data for human samples. Table 64. Childhood diet reconstruction for the human sample values for δ13Csc, δ13Clgbn, Δ13Csc-lgbn, and δ15N. Differences by sex: differential access to resources Differences by location: differences by social classes Figure 65. δ13C and δ15N isotope variation by sex at Chinikihá. Table 65. Distribution of δ15N and δ13C by sex (based on collagen values). Table 66. Distribution of δ15N and δ13C by location (based on collagen values). Figure 66. Distribution of δ13C and δ15N values by location at Chinikihá. Relationship between the isotope analysis and palaeopathology: a proxy approach to diet reconstruction Discussion Figure 67. Mandible from sample CM11, showing an abscess at 1M on right side. Note the caries at the neck of 2M (red arrow), and the wear pattern on occlusal surfaces of all teeth present (Photograph by Coral Montero López). Table 67. δ13C and δ15N isotope values for human samples in the Maya region (from bone collagen). Table 68. δ13C and δ15N isotope values for deer samples in the Maya region (from bone collagen). Results of the zooarchaeological analysis Testing for spatial patterning: results Chapter ten Discussion Table 69. Results from the three tests conducted in Operación 114. Testing for processing patterns: results Testing for ritual exploitation: results Results of the isotopic analysis Situating the results within the dietary failure model 1. Hunting pressure, incremental use of favoured species and increased diversity Figure 68. Distribution of white-tailed deer body portions by Operación. 2. Associated increase in the use of meaty portions by elites Figure 69. Distribution of meaty parts (axial and limb) and non-meaty (skull and distal) grouped by Layers I-III (above the floor), and Layers IV-V (under the floor) for Operación 114. 3. Generalised inefficiency in the use of carcasses The identification of function of Operación 114 Operación 114 and its taphonomic history Zooarchaeoological markers for feasting Table 70. Zooarchaeological markers and their correlates in Operación 114 (modified from Twiss 2008:420, Table 1). Comparisons with other assemblages Comparison with Operación 201 Figure 70. Comparison between Operaciones 114 (Chinikihá) and 201 (Chancalá) for white-tailed deer body portions (%NISP). Figure 71. Comparison by body portion for similar contexts to Chinikihá (modified from Emery 2004a, 2010; Koželsky 2005). Regional comparisons Feasting during the Late classic period Figure 72. Representation of the deer God with tamales placed in shallow bowls (modified from Hellmuth 1978:182). Conclusion References Appendix A List of isolated teeth by Operación Appendix B List of material identified by Operación Appendix c List of modified bone and shell studied Appendix d List of human remains studied