TY - JOUR
T1 - Phosphate fractionation and spatial patterning in ancient ruins
T2 - A case study from Yucatan
AU - Hutson, Scott R.
AU - Magnoni, Aline
AU - Beach, Timothy
AU - Terry, Richard E.
AU - Dahlin, Bruce H.
AU - Schabel, Mary Jo
PY - 2009/9/15
Y1 - 2009/9/15
N2 - As time passes, phosphorus (P) in soils tends to become more tightly bound with minerals. Phosphate fractionation enables the measurement of loosely versus tightly bound P. Archaeologists have used P fractionation as a chronometric technique: older soils should have greater proportions of P tightly bound with minerals. Research at Chunchucmil, a large Maya ruin in Yucatan, Mexico, has used extractable P concentrations and other lines of evidence to investigate ancient uses of space. Because contemporary Maya villagers use the land among the Chunchucmil ruins in a number of ways, and because the ancient land surfaces are neither sealed nor deeply buried, we used P fractionation to determine whether geochemical signatures of activities such as gardening resulted from ancient or modern inhabitants. The fractionation results at Chunchucmil are unusual in comparison to studies from other sites. Furthermore, there are strong correlations between the sum of P fractions and carbonate. We discuss potential explanations for these patterns in P fractionation data. These explanations consider local pedology, differential length of ancient occupation, and localized dumping of the byproducts of maize processing. To examine the chemical signatures of maize processing, specifically soaking maize in lime water, contemporary samples of sediments and residues from this activity were analyzed. Our results suggest that dumping water from maize soaking provides a potential explanation for the ancient P patterns.
AB - As time passes, phosphorus (P) in soils tends to become more tightly bound with minerals. Phosphate fractionation enables the measurement of loosely versus tightly bound P. Archaeologists have used P fractionation as a chronometric technique: older soils should have greater proportions of P tightly bound with minerals. Research at Chunchucmil, a large Maya ruin in Yucatan, Mexico, has used extractable P concentrations and other lines of evidence to investigate ancient uses of space. Because contemporary Maya villagers use the land among the Chunchucmil ruins in a number of ways, and because the ancient land surfaces are neither sealed nor deeply buried, we used P fractionation to determine whether geochemical signatures of activities such as gardening resulted from ancient or modern inhabitants. The fractionation results at Chunchucmil are unusual in comparison to studies from other sites. Furthermore, there are strong correlations between the sum of P fractions and carbonate. We discuss potential explanations for these patterns in P fractionation data. These explanations consider local pedology, differential length of ancient occupation, and localized dumping of the byproducts of maize processing. To examine the chemical signatures of maize processing, specifically soaking maize in lime water, contemporary samples of sediments and residues from this activity were analyzed. Our results suggest that dumping water from maize soaking provides a potential explanation for the ancient P patterns.
KW - Geochemistry
KW - Household archaeology
KW - Maya civilization
KW - Maya lowlands
KW - Phosphate fractionation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67650578693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.catena.2009.02.005
DO - 10.1016/j.catena.2009.02.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:67650578693
SN - 0341-8162
VL - 78
SP - 260
EP - 269
JO - Catena
JF - Catena
IS - 3
ER -