Trees, shrubs, and forests at Joya de Cerén, a Late Classic Mesoamerican village

Abstract

The Late Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén's extraordinary preservation caused by the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption around 650 CE allows for a unique opportunity to understand what plant species ancient Mesoamerican farmers utilized in their daily lives for food consumption, medicinal applications, fuel, and construction purposes. While Cerén has unusually good preservation of earthen-made household structures, gardens, and extensive outfields growing maize, manioc, and numerous weedy species, this article will review the collection of anthracological remains recovered from excavations at the site since 1978. Wood charcoal recovered via flotation samples taken throughout the archaeological site reveal the surrounding ecosystems that Cerén villagers would have exploited to regularly obtain their wood resources. Additionally, various fruit trees were cultivated within the village center, as evidenced by limb, trunk and fruit impressions preserved as plaster casts. The data collected from the long history of archaeobotanical research at Cerén suggests that these ancient rural agriculturalists practiced sustainable land management strategies and incorporated a diverse assemblage of tree species into their daily practices. The ancient agriculturalists effectively coped with an ever-changing landscape and opportunistically established their settlement in a biodiverse setting that had plentiful resources from a range of ecosystems available for their daily needs.