Annotated Checklist of Land Species 



Land moUusca present problems separate from 

 those of their marine or freshwater cousins in that 

 they form an almost ever-present normal component 

 of the materials used for construction fill in Maya 

 architecture. Once favored living conditions such as 

 open rubble have been established, they migrate 

 into these artificial environments in enormous num- 

 bers. Workers are wont to retain these intruders 

 with human artifacts collected in excavations, par- 

 ticularly as some are most attractive. To establish 

 them as human artifacts, one must demonstrate their 

 provenience in a completely sealed receptacle, show 

 that they were intentionally altered by human eflort, 

 or prove that they were amassed in quantities which 

 could not have occurred in nature. This has rarely 

 been possible in the Maya lowlands. We have little 

 reason to believe that land molluscs (in contrast to 

 freshwater genera such as Pomacea) were ever an 

 important source of food. Today they are not eaten. 

 Peninsular species were and are so thin-shelled that 

 they would have been of no use as raw material and 

 most ephemeral ornaments if perforated for use 

 as pendants. Any usage would probably have been 

 symbolic. 



Despite these strictures, a number of land mol- 

 luscs have been reported in archaeological publica- 

 tions. For the sake of completeness in this checklist 

 we briefly list them, in the customary geographic 

 order. 



DZIBILCHALTUN: Although all our excava- 

 tions were heavily peppered with land molluscs, 

 including tombs and all but the most tightly sealed 

 caches, no clear evidence of archaeological use of 

 any was obtained. The largest, most attractive, and 

 thickly shelled of these, Orthalicus princeps prin- 

 ceps (Broderip), was frequently encountered, but 

 never with evidence of intentional alteration. It is 

 a common arboreal species. 



MAYAPAN: ProskouriakoflF reports 2 specimens 

 of Orthalicus princeps (one pierced by an irregular 



hole), and "also unworked shells of a Phalium 

 species and Oleacina, which may be intrusive" (P, 

 p. 387, fig. 47,«). Phalium is a purely marine genus, 

 and could be intrusive only through human agency. 

 We see no reason to believe that the land species 

 were of other than natural occurrence. 



ISLA CANCUN: A number of species of small 

 land molluscs were found in the deeply sealed parts 

 of the midden, but they were only those which 

 would have been expected to inhabit the site during 

 its brief occupation. 



TIKAL: Moholy-Nagy's preliminary notes list i 

 perforated "Orthalicus princeps" in Late Formative 

 (Chuen) debris. She also lists the following un- 

 worked molluscs, on which archaeological context 

 is not yet available: 



Aplexa data (Gou\d) (1) 

 Euglandina sp. (numerous) 

 Helicina sp. (numerous) 

 Neocyclotus (fragment) 

 Neocyclotus dysoni (Pfeiffer) (30) 

 Orthalicus princeps (Broderip) (30) 



PIEDRAS NEGRAS: Coe lists 6 land snails in 

 a single Late Classic cache, K— 5— 5, Euglandina 

 decussata (Deshayes) and Choanopoma radiosum 

 (Morelet), but does not state whether or not the 

 cache was found in condition which would disallow 

 intrusion. 



BARTON RAMIE: Willey lists 3 species from 

 the Belize Valley sites: 



Euglandina carminensis (Morelet) (7) 



Bulimulus sp. (109) 



Neocyclotus dysoni (Pfeiffer) (12) 



All were unworked. He notes that the Bulimulus 

 is found in various periods, but is very heavily 

 concentrated in the Formative phases — possible evi- 

 dence that the specimens are not intrusive (W, pp. 

 526-27). 



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