ETHNOBOTANICAL AND PALEOETHNOBOTANICAL RESEARCH AT THE PROGRAMME FOR BELIZE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

Abstract

In addition to understanding humanity through material culture, the archaeological record also has the capacity to provide botanical data which provides insight to ancient environmental landscapes, climate patterns, and provides a baseline for agroeconomic systems and foodways. Studying archaeobotanical records is vital to a holistic interpretation of material culture and contributes to understanding degrees of variation between ecological and cultural areas. Together with archaeobotany, ethnobotanical survey can also offer valuable contextual evidence when studying past environments. Despite spatial and temporal discontinuities in plant-use and knowledge systems, ethnobotanical data viewed with a critical lens can also provide data missing from the archaeological record which is inherently not exhaustive and relies heavily on interpretation. Ethnobotanical and paleoethnobotanical research at the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP) includes ethnobotanical interviews conducted in the nearby town of San Felipe and archaeobotanical investigations at Structure 3 at the site of La Milpa. By combining a modern analogue of plant practices and knowledge systems via ethnobotanical survey, collecting plant specimens for an archaeobotanical reference library, collecting soil samples from new projects, and sampling artifacts for residues, archaeobotanical research at PfBAP continues to expand what we know about the ancient Maya in northwestern Belize.