Tortillas, cooked on a comal and used to wrap other foods (meat, beans, etc.), were common and are perhaps the best-known pre-Columbian Mesoamerican food.

Once nixtamalized, maize was typically ground up on a metate and prepared in a number of ways. This releases niacin, a necessary B vitamin (vitamin B 3) that prevents pellagra and reduces incidents of protein deficiency. Nixtamalization (a term that derives from the Nahuatl word for the process) is a procedure in which maize is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution. Maize was used and eaten in a variety of ways, but was always nixtamalized. Archaeological evidence suggests that Chapalote-Nal-Tel was the dominant species however, it is likely others were being exploited also. Among the three, maize was the central component of the diet of the ancient Maya, and figured prominently in Maya mythology and ideology. The first three cultivars are commonly referred to in North America as the ' Three Sisters' and, when incorporated in a diet, complement one another in providing necessary nutrients. Īncient Maya diet focused on four domesticated crops ( staple crops): maize, squash, beans (typically Phaseolus vulgaris) and chili peppers.

This range of sites also allows for insight into regional differences based on the environment and access to local resources, such as aquatic and marine life. Information for the Classic period, the most widely studied period for the Maya civilization, come from the sites of Cobá, Cerén, Dos Pilas, Wild Cane Cay, Copán, Tikal, and Río Azul. The majority of plant remains fall within the Preclassic-Postclassic and allow for researchers to discuss subsistence patterns that revolve around domesticated and wild/partially cultivated plants. The earliest archaeological plant remains within the Maya region are from Cuello, Belize, and predate Preclassic sites. Macro-remains are separated from the soil through a flotation process while micro-remains are chemically extracted from the flotation samples. Paleoethnobotanical studies consist of the examination of micro- and macro- plant remains found within measured units of soil taken from an archaeological context. Many foods and food production techniques used by the ancient Maya civilization remain in use today by the modern Maya peoples, and many have spread far beyond the Maya region.Įthnohistoric and paleoethnobotanical evidence for plant staples Varieties of maize These elements are then run through a mass spectrometer and the values display the enrichment of maize and the extent of aquatic resources in an individual's diet. This method allows for the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to be chemically extracted from animal and human skeletal remains. To understand how and in what quantities food resources were relied upon by the Ancient Maya, stable isotopic analysis has been utilized. Complementing swidden techniques were crop rotation and farming, employed to maintain soil viability and increase the variety of crops. This technique, common throughout the Maya area, is still practiced in the region today.

However, the soil will not remain suitable for planting for as many as ten years. This in turn temporarily raises the content of a variety of nutrients, especially phosphorus. For example, the introduction of ash into the soil raises the soil's pH. Among these was slash-and-burn, or swidden, agriculture, a technique that cleared and temporarily fertilized the area. The ancient Maya adopted a number of adaptive techniques that, if necessary, allowed for the clear-cutting of land and re-infused the soil with nutrients. The system takes its name from the stones ( pet meaning 'circular' and kot 'wall of loose stones') that characteristically surrounded the gardens. Much of the ancient Maya food supply was grown in agricultural fields and forest gardens, known as pet kot. Plant domestication concentrated upon several core foods, the most important of which was maize. Many different types of resources were consumed, including maritime, flora, and faunal material, and food was obtained or produced through strategies such as hunting, foraging, and large-scale agricultural production. Ancient Maya cuisine was varied and extensive.

Maya civilization people