The tapir in the room: Ancient Maya storage architecture

Abstract

• Despite its crucial economic importance, storage remains a surprisingly rare topic in Maya archaeology. • Evidence for storage architecture among the modern, colonial era, and ancient Mayas can help build a middle-range theory for studying this topic. • Architectural, artifactual, and geoarchaeological data can help archaeologist recognize distinct types of above-ground storage architecture, such as kitchens, storerooms, storehouses, and warehouses. • Classic Maya royal courts relied on ancillary, centralized, and administrative storage facilities. • Storage is a necessary and productive angle for studying ancient Maya household and political economies. The storage of abundant foodstuffs or items is a central element of all economies, but strangely remains a rare topic in the field of ancient Maya anthropological archaeology. This paper aims to fill this lacuna by proposing a middle-range theory of ancient Maya storage architecture. This theoretical framework is built on extensive empirical data derived from ethnographical, ethnohistorical, and archaeological literatures. This middle-range model is then applied to the Later Classic (700–900 CE) regal palace of La Corona, Guatemala where five distinct, yet complementary storage contexts are identified on archaeological and geoarchaeological grounds. The storerooms, storehouses, and warehouse found in this royal household were used to store distinct foodstuffs, commodities, administrative tools, taxes and tribute, ceremonial paraphernalia, and prestige items. These complementary architectural contexts are arranged along a pragmatic operational chain, where they occupy ineluctable positions. In this paper, I show that placing storage at the center of ancient Maya economic inquiry – be it for household or political economies – is not only possible, but necessary and productive.