The Origins of Domestication in the Mayan Lowlands

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Erin Kennedy Thornton and Kitty Emery, together with collaborators at academic institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico, will re-examine the timing and process of turkey husbandry in the Maya lowlands. Determining when the practice of turkey husbandry was adopted and/or developed by the ancient Maya has important consequences for understanding Maya subsistence systems and long-distance trade connections. Since the turkey is one of only a few animals domesticated in the Americas, this research also has broad ramifications for understanding the process of New World animal domestication and animal management. Archaeologists wish to understand the processes which led to the development of complex social systems. In most instances in which this occurred - both in the Old and New Worlds - the domestication of animals played a significant role in the process. Lowland Middle America is unusual in this regard since it is unclear whether any non-plant species were domesticated there (as opposed to introduced from elsewhere). Drs. Thornton's and Emery's research will directly address this issue. The project is inter-disciplinary: integrating zooarchaeological, osteometric, isotopic, and DNA analysis. These methods will be used to address several questions regarding turkey husbandry in the Mesoamerica. The research will assess when the Mexican turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was first introduced to the ancient Maya and when it was widely adopted. Until recently, the non-local Mexican turkey was thought to have been introduced to the Maya cultural region during the Postclassic period (AD 1000-1500). The recent discovery of Mexican turkeys in Late Preclassic (300 BC-AD 100) deposits at the site of El Mirador (Petén, Guatemala) challenges this assumption, and suggests that the species may have been introduced approximately 1000 years earlier than previously thought. The research will also address whether the ancient Maya maintained captive populations of the wild ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata), which is native to the Maya region. The research will further provide cross-cultural comparison with turkey husbandry in the American Southwest, which has been identified as an independent center of turkey domestication. Such comparisons provide insight into the economic and social motivations for managing natural resources, and will advance our knowledge of ancient North America's only domestic animal. The project will facilitate and develop international collaboration between educational and governmental institutions in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Belize. These research partnerships are important to several senior project personnel who are early career researchers working to establish professional networks. The research will also provide academic training for both graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Florida, Universidad Autonóma de Yucatan, Trent University, Simon Fraser University, University of New Mexico, and SUNY-Albany. Through open-access data storage and publication, the data generated from this project will contribute to future research. For example, DNA obtained from modern specimens will add to the available genetic sequences for both Meleagris gallopavo and Meleagris ocellata. The zooarchaeological, isotopic and genetic from this project will also be made publicly available through on-line databases, as well as standard publications.