Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Food as a Defining Cultural Factor

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

Scientists are curious about what ancient people ate and drank. Archaeologists at the University of Florida are investigating the foods and beverages consumed by the ancient Maya, by analyzing organic chemical residues and starch grains in pottery vessels and on stone grinding tools. These analyses are innovative in that they help identify ancient Maya "recipes" rather than single ingredients. They provide insights into the individual's choices of ingredients and methods of combining, processing, and serving foods and drinks, using different tools and vessels. This study is focused on periods of cultural transition, to better understand the relationship between people and food during times of social and environmental change. Differences in Maya recipes through time, across space, and among community members enable understanding of the relationships among people, their foods, and their environmental and social circumstances. The role of food in culture is vital to understanding expressions of personal identity and responses to changing social and environmental circumstances. Thus, this study is relevant to understanding of human cultures in all places and at all times, including today. This study incorporates several methodological advancements by: 1) conducting residue analysis on museum-curated and recently recovered archaeological artifacts to assess preservation and recovery techniques, 2) adding new chemical and micro-botanical signatures to the array of expected ancient Maya ingredients, and 3) using methods to elucidate food combinations and processing steps rather than just ingredients. These approaches are influencing many scientific disciplines, and fostering collaboration among archaeologists, geochemists, and analytical chemists. This research has an important educational component, because multiple graduate students are learning how to collect, extract and prepare organic chemical residues and starch grains from archaeological contexts for analysis. This study will use recovered food residues to identify combinations of ingredients found on food-related artifacts from several pre-contact Maya sites in Belize and Guatemala. The focus is on times of Maya cultural transition, both early (300 BC-250 AD) and late (800-1100 AD), and on places in different ecological zones (coastal, inland, and riverine). Techniques used include liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and starch grain analysis by microscopy. This is the first research project in the Maya region to identify the chaine operatoire (operational sequence) of Maya "recipes" using residue analysis and to explore correlations between food ingredients and food-related artifacts and activities at different stages of food production and consumption. Residues will be correlated to style and inferred function of the artifacts (determined by analysts working on multiple archaeological projects), and the context in which they were found (site location, age, function, and social status), to provide insights into the relations among foods, food-related tools and vessels, and the people who used them. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.