Coastal and inland patterns of faunal exploitation in the prehispanic northern Maya lowlands

Abstract

Recently, faunal remains were excavated from middens and structure fill associated with elite dwellings from five prehispanic Maya sites: Champotón, Chichén Itzá, Dzibilchaltún, Sihó, and Xcambó. The sites are located in the northern Maya lowlands, and all faunal materials derive from cultural accumulations dated to the Classic and Postclassic periods (between approximately AD 200 and 1500) of prehispanic Maya occupation. Identification and comparison of the faunal remains indicate diverse subsistence adaptations and harvesting/hunting strategies of vertebrate animals by the ancient Maya, revealing specifically different exploitation patterns at inland and coastal sites, each primarily adapted to the immediate local environments. While elite residents of the inland sites appear to have used strategies well adapted to a modified environment of secondary forest and agricultural fields, the coastal site elite relied mainly on marine fauna with only minor quantities of terrestrial vertebrates, some of which were possibly obtained through local and long distance exchange.