By: Heather McKillop, Diane Chase (Foreword by), Arlen Chase (Foreword by)

Hardcover

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In Salt: White Gold of the Ancient Maya, Heather McKillop reports the discovery, excavation, and interpretation of Late Classic Maya salt works on the coast of Belize, transforming our knowledge of the Maya salt trade and craft specialization while providing new insights on sea-level rise in the Late Holocene as well.

Salt, basic to human existence, was scarce in the tropical rainforests of Belize and Guatemala, where the Classic Maya civilization thrived between A.D. 300 and 900. The prevailing interpretation has been that salt was imported from the north coast of the Yucatan. However, the underwater discovery and excavation of salt works in Punta Ycacos Lagoon demonstrate that the Maya produced salt by boiling brine in pots over fires at specialized workshops on the Belizean coast. The Punta Ycacos salt works are clear evidence that craft specialization took place in a nondomestic setting and that production occurred away from the economic and political power of the urban Maya rulers, thus providing new clues to the Maya economy and sea trade.

McKillop also presents new data on sea-level rise in the Late Holocene that extend geologists' and geographers' sea-level curves from earlier eras. Likewise, she enters the environmental-versus-cultural debate over the Classic Maya collapse by evaluating the factors that led to the abandonment of the Punta Ycacos salt works at the end of the Classic Period, synonymous with the abandonment of inland Maya cities.

List of Figures
List of Maps
List of Tables
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Salt as a Maya Trade Good	p. 1
The Punta Ycacos Salt Works: A New Source of Salt for the Late Classic Maya	p. 29
Salt-Production Equipment	p. 51
The Organization of Salt Production: Occupational Specialization among the Late Classic Maya	p. 115
Salt Production and Sea-Level Rise	p. 135
Salt Production, Trade, and Late Classic Maya Society	p. 175
Catalog (Location) Numbers for Artifacts from the Salt Work Shops	p. 187
Weights and Counts of Fired Clay from Salt Work Shops	p. 189
Catalog Numbers for Artifacts Illustrated in the Text	p. 191
References Cited	p. 193
Index	p. 217
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780813025117
ISBN-10: 0813025117
Series: Maya Studies S.
Audience: Professional
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 256
Published: 30th August 2002
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Dimensions (cm): 22.9 x 15.2  x 2.2
Weight (kg): 0.531