Labor, Population Movement, and Food in Sixteenth-Century Ek Balam, Yucatán

Abstract

Spanish colonization of the Yucatán Peninsula altered traditional patterns of subsistence after Spaniards imposed labor demands and controlled the movement of indigenous Maya. Spaniards established an encomienda and Franciscan visita at Ek Balam in the northern lowlands of the peninsula during the mid-sixteenth century. Complementary forces of doctrina and encomienda fostered the religious, political, and economic subjugation of the Maya. An analysis of zooarchaeological material from an Early Hispanic period feature at the archaeological site of Ek Balam indicates that Spanish restrictions of population movement and restructuring of indigenous labor altered pre-Hispanic patterns of faunal use. Under Spanish hegemony, Maya residents raised small-sized animals of Eurasian origin, especially pigs and chickens, while maintaining the indigenous dog as a primary food source. The animals used at Ek Balam could have been either raised or hunted locally; there is no indication that animals were obtained through either trade or exchange. The pattern of faunal use by indigenous people at Ek Balam differs from Early Hispanic sites in the southern Maya lowlands and elsewhere in the circum-Caribbean. This contrast demonstrates that tropical environmental variability, population density, and Spanish control tactics affected subsistence behavior and the incorporation of introduced fauna in the indigenous diet.