Discussion 



41 



Trade 



Table I gives some definite clues to probable trade 

 activities in ancient times. Two categories show up 

 immediately: 



A. Shells from coastal midden (only Isla Cancun, 



to date). These were Mollusca collected at 

 coastal encampments either for immediate eat- 

 ing or, at the most, for extraction of the edible 

 portions of the animal for shipment inland. 

 One would expect them to be entirely of local 

 fauna, and therefore irrelevant to matters of 

 trade or commerce. 



B. Shells from inland sites (the balance of our mate- 



rial). These finds of Mollusca were in largest 

 part brought from the ocean for use of the 

 shell rather than the animal inside, although 

 at sites close to the sea, such as Dzibilchaltun, 

 some animals may have been brought in their 

 shells as table delicacies. 



Category A, the Isla Cancun series, is, as would 

 be expected, entirely composed of local material. The 

 99 species listed are without exception found on the 

 local beaches today. The dwellers at the midden may 

 well have exported both seafood and shells. 



Category B is composed of shells largely imported 

 as such. An examination of where these shells might 

 have come from shows interesting evidence of trade. 

 We stress again at this point that the modern distri- 

 butions listed in Table i are based on our own col- 

 lections and may be incomplete, but we believe these 

 reservations are not sufficient to invalidate the gen- 

 eral patterns described below. 



We also note here (as discussed fully in the next 

 section) that there is little probability of faunal 

 change on the shores of the peninsula during the 

 brief 2000—3000 years represented by our collec- 

 tions. At Isla Cancun, where we have positive evi- 

 dence, there is no hint of difference in the 2200 years 

 between the midden collections and present-day 

 shore fauna. 



At Dzibilchaltun, only 33 of the 2,380 specimens 

 represent species not commonly found on the imme- 

 diately adjacent north coast. Of the 33, 23 are 0//W 

 reticularis and O. sayana (or caribaeensis), which 

 could have come from either east or west coast, and 

 which were, as noted below, so widely used as 

 tinklers. The remaining handful show that although 

 Dzibilchaltun utilized in all periods largely its local 

 moUuscan fauna, trade from a distance did exist. 

 Nine shells of five species were probably imported 

 from the Caribbean coast: Fissurella barhadensis 



(i), Cittarium pica (i), Tectarius muricatus (5, in 

 one cache offering), Nerita tessellata (i), Arcopagia 

 fausta (i). One specimen of Noetia ponderosa was 

 probably traded from the west coast of the penin- 

 sula. Shells were clearly not an item of desiderata 

 in trade, probably because of their abundance on 

 nearby beaches. 



At Mayapan, 50 miles farther inland, a much 

 smaller collection of shell produced a similarly strik- 

 ing lack of trade specimens. The exception, as at 

 Dzibilchaltun, was the Oliva used for tinklers, of 

 which 73 were found. Only three shells were clearly 

 imported from a distance, all from the east coast: 

 Glycymeris undata (i), Cymatium femorale (i), 

 and Cypraecassis testiculus (i). 



Shell artifacts from Chichen Itza have mostly not 

 been identified by species. As at Mayapan, Olivas 

 for tinklers are very common (77). No other evi- 

 dence published by Proskouriakoff (1962) indicates 

 trade other than with the north coast. I found one 

 complete and unaltered Murex fulvescens on the 

 surface in the Modified Florescent complex. This 

 was almost surely imported from southern Cam- 

 peche or the west shore of the Gulf of Mexico. 



Archaeological shell from Yucatan proper, in sum- 

 mary, although found in huge quantities, seems to 

 have been gathered mostly along the north coast. 

 The Olivas are an exception, but were available at 

 no great distance on the west coast. A handful of 

 specimens were brought in, possibly as souvenirs, 

 from the Caribbean coast, perhaps by the numer- 

 ous pilgrims who we know visited the shrines of 

 pre-Columbian Cozumel Island. In terms of trade 

 in shell, the northwest peninsula seems to have been 

 logically self-contained. 



Barton Ramie and other Belize River Valley settle- 

 ments share the general pattern of the northern sites 

 described above (Willey and others, 1965). Land 

 snails and clams, doubtless gathered locally, formed 

 a vast majority of the Formative shell encountered; 

 at other sites they are less frequent. Despite the 

 proximity of the sea, marine species first appear in 

 numbers only in the Classic period. The nine spe- 

 cies identified by Willey do not of?er much clue 

 to broader trade relations. They could have been 

 imported from nearby British Honduras beaches, 

 where (with one possible exception) all are to be 

 found. The numerous Spondylus are all of the 

 Atlantic species. 



At San Jose in British Honduras, Thompson 



