Evaluación multiperspectiva de las palmas de Sabal y otras plantas posiblemente utilizadas como material para techos por los antiguos mayas en las tierras bajas centrales

Abstract

The Maya vernacular house of the pre-Columbian era has been little studied so far and new methodological approaches are needed to reconstruct its architectural and material characteristics. Particularly for the roof, there is a lack of any studies that would verify the speculative descriptions in the literature. Using a multi-perspective approach that includes ecological, paleoecological, archaeological, ethnohistorical, ethnobotanical and ethnolinguistic perspectives, this article aims to evaluate the palm species of the genus Sabal, known as the guano palm or xa'an, as the most important resource for roof construction in the Maya lowlands. Based on data from my own geoethnobotanical and ethnoarchaeological field work, paleoecological data from drilling cores and research results from other studies, it is demonstrated that a forest species of the genus Sabal was probably the primary thatching material for the Classic population of the central Maya lowlands.