Discussion 



59 



protected to assure the permanence of this culinary 

 attraction.^ 



Excavations in the BeUze River Valley have 

 furnished evidence that other freshwater molluscs 

 were an important source of food in ancient times: 

 765 specimens of the clam Nephronaias ortmanni, 

 and 805 univalves of the species Pachychilus 

 glaphyrus and largillierti were found in the trenches. 

 Although a few examples of each of these were 

 scattered throughout the stratigraphy, the heavy 

 preponderance was in the Formative phases, after 

 which either the supply diminished or the culinary 

 interest dwindled. At Barton Ramie, over 100 land 

 snails of the genus Bulimulus were found. Examina- 

 tion of the archaeological context of each specimen 

 showed that, again, most of them were deposited 

 during the Formative phases, which would indicate 

 that they were intentionally collected and probably 

 used as food. However, with the exception of the 

 large Pomaceas, no freshwater molluscs, univalve 

 or bivalve, are known to be used for food in the 

 area today.'' 



Whereas we can be sure that the ancients drew 

 heavily on the sea for food and delicacies, as they 

 do today, we pointed out above that the shells were 

 probably left on the shore in most cases when the 

 animals were shipped any distance inland. So that 

 even at a site as near to the sea as Dzibilchaltun, 

 catalogues of archaeological shell offer little if any 

 gauge of the extent or variety of use of marine 

 molluscs as food. The great quantity of shell we 

 find in the ruins was probably brought in for other 

 purposes. However, when certain categories of shell 

 are exceedingly common, and where other uses seem 

 to be completely ruled out, it is hard to escape the 

 conclusion that molluscs were brought from the sea 

 in their shells to be eaten. 



As many as 493 valves or fragments of cockle- 

 shells, mostly the largest species, Dmocardntm r. 



6 Teobert Maler (1901—03, p. 17), during his explorations 

 o£ the Chancala River in the Peten, noted that "all the streams 

 are filled with edible snails {Melania levissima^= Xot ... of 

 the Mayas)." Prof. Barrera Vasquez has suggested (verbally) 

 that this word is probably X-hot in Maya {hot in various 

 dictionaries means an object with face or head down and rear 

 parts elevated, which would fit well with these animals) and 

 that this may be the Maya derivation of the words ]iite and 

 hootie above. This may have been a generic name for fresh- 

 water univalves (sec notes by Moholy-Nagy on p. 32). 



vanhyningi (419), littered the site. Only one frag- 

 ment (a fragment of ventral margin with a drilled 

 hole for suspension) showed any sign of working. 

 Some of the larger specimens might have been used 

 as cups or dippers, but would have made a sorry 

 substitute for the gourds used today and probably 

 in ancient times. It has also been suggested that they 

 were used to striate the surface of unslipped utility 

 jars (or the preslip incised jars of the Formative). 

 But if used for such a purpose, they would not 

 appear in such great quantities (we have no evi- 

 dence that any pottery was actually made at Dzibil- 

 chaltun). Food seems the only logical use, and these 

 animals are large and eminently edible. 



The genera Melongena (361) and Ficus (96) 

 seem another case in point. Not a single worked freg- 

 ment has been found, nor can I suggest any use other 

 than food for these small, thin-walled gastropods. 

 It may be significant that the mass of species men- 

 tioned thus far are found in Formative deposits. 



On the other hand, if these were brought from 

 the sea in the shell for eating, we face the problem 

 of the striking absence of shells of other species 

 which we can be almost certain were used for food. 

 No adult oyster shell appeared, but Ostrea jrons and 

 Crassostrea virginica are common on the shore. Only 

 five mussel valves appeared (two Formative, three 

 in an Early period cache). The very numerous larger 

 conchs {Strombus, Busy con, Pleuroploca, Turbi- 

 nella) can be well accounted for ty the variety of 

 commercial uses to which the shell was put. But here 

 again it should be noted that the great bulk of these 

 larger shells were found in Formative deposits, 

 where manufactured shell artifacts and jewelry are 

 relatively scarce. 



At Dzibilchaltun, we shall risk what may be a 

 rash guess that a number of clams and snails were 

 brought from the sea in their shells in the Formative 

 period. Later, efficiency experts seem to have decreed 

 that shells should be left on the beach unless they 

 were to serve some purpose in the ceremonial or 

 commercial life of the inland city. 



^ Euell Gibbons (1964) has published an interesting, if 

 necessarily very incomplete, account of the edible molluscs, 

 including, for the gourmet, suggestions on how many of them 

 may be tastily prepared. 



