Summary and Conclusions 



Molluscs, particularly marine molluscs, as well as 

 other forms of marine life, are surprisingly frequent 

 in archaeological excavations in the Maya lowlands. 

 What began as a brief listing of the specimens re- 

 covered at Dzibilchaltun, was expanded to include 

 the also unpublished material from our excava- 

 tions at the Late Formative midden at Isla Cancun, 

 Quintana Roo, and finally to add other previously 

 published material from the lowland area. The 

 resulting checklist of some 15,000 specimens of 192 

 species from 19 sites includes modern distributions 

 for most. These have been drawn from a larger study 

 of the modern fauna now in preparation, which, if 

 still incomplete, offers more precise grounds for spe- 

 cific identifications than existed before. Photographs 

 are included of most of the archaeological species, 

 with better-preserved modern counterparts where 

 considered useful. The checklist forms the bulk of 

 the present monograph. 



In brief sections following the checklist, we have 

 considered the marine ecology of the area, possible 

 aspects of ancient trade which might be inferred 

 from the geographic distribution of ancient species, 

 and possibly significant chronological variations in 

 archaeological usage. Finally we have considered 

 the ceremonial, aesthetic, and commercial impor- 

 tance of mollusca and marine life to the early Maya. 

 Some results of these considerations have been of 

 interest. 



Ecologically, the peninsular littoral falls into four 

 distinct zones, and merges into what would seem 

 to be a fifth (fig. 2). Much of the molluscan fauna 

 extends through all of these zones, but many of the 

 species are quite restricted in their habitat. Making 

 the generally accepted assumption that no significant 

 faunal change has come about during the last 2000 

 years (confirmed by the identity of our pre-Christian 

 and present-day collections at Isla Cancun), we 

 should then be in a position to predict roughly 

 where archaeological specimens of the restricted 

 species were collected on the coast. There were 

 enough of these to give at least some strong hints 

 regarding pre-Columbian trade. 



The northern Yucatan sites utilized almost en- 

 tirely the malacofauna of the neighboring north 

 coast. A handful of shells were probably brought 



from the East Coast; and there was no hint of trade 

 in shells with the south. The Belize Valley sites, 

 near the coast, followed the same pattern of local 

 trade. However, the central Peten sites, which were 

 at some distance from any sea coast, were deeply 

 committed to trade routes which probably made 

 excellent sense in general merchandise but not in 

 terms of shell. Much of the shell, including the 

 treasured Spondylus princeps, was imported from 

 the distant Pacific. But imports included a number 

 of less impressive Pacific species whose very simi- 

 lar Atlantic cousins could be obtained much nearer. 

 At Copan, farther south, nearly all the archaeo- 

 logical shell was of Pacific origin, despite the prox- 

 imity of the Gulf of Honduras. Even at Piedras 

 Negras at the north corner of the Peten, Pacific 

 influence is prominent. More interesting is the fact 

 that the central Peten sites appear to have imported 

 most of their Atlantic shell not from the nearby 

 Caribbean but from the considerably more distant 

 Gulf of Mexico. This might imply ethnic barriers to 

 trade of which we are not otherwise aware. Despite 

 the northward flow of Peten trade pottery, which 

 is so heavily evidenced at Dzibilchaltun, we have no 

 hint of marine molluscs being traded in the reverse 

 direction, even though we have inferential evidence 

 that salt from the north may have been a significant 

 factor of balance. Table i summarizes the geo- 

 graphical distribution of archaeological and modern 

 species. 



Table 2 summarizes the occurrence of 73 mol- 

 luscan species in the various periods of history at 

 Dzibilchaltun. Molluscan remains in Formative con- 

 text are strikingly different from those of the Early 

 period and the Florescent. Although there was surely 

 no change in the fauna available for use, the com- 

 monest species in Formative deposits are virtually 

 absent in later times, probably because of a change 

 in dietary habits. Increasing frequencies of certain 

 species in the later periods may reflect an increase in 

 the manufacture of jewelry and ornaments. 



A brief examination was made of the evidence 

 for ritual or votive significance of shells and other 

 forms of marine life. We found that shells had a 

 definite religious connotation documented in sculp- 

 tures, ceramics, and the codices as far back at least 



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