Study Suggests Smaller Maya Communities Relied on Maize

PETÉN, GUATEMALA—Phys.org reports that a team of researchers led by Gloria Hernandez of the University of Mérida measured stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the bone collagen of 57 people, and carbon isotopes in the tooth enamel of 37 people, who lived in small communities in northern Guatemala during the Maya Classic period (A.D. 250–950). The scientists then compared their results with published data obtained from human remains dated to the Classic period that have been recovered in other regions of the Maya world. The researchers determined that people who lived in the southeastern Petén region consumed a maize diet similar to that of people who lived in large Maya centers such as Tikal, Calakmul, and Caracol. The people who lived in smaller communities, however, also consumed other plants as well as animals that ate maize, including deer, peccaries, dogs, and turkeys. “Diets in the mountainous zone appear to be more strongly maize-based, while those in the savanna include slightly higher-trophic animal protein,” Hernandez said. “These patterns may reflect the availability of freshwater resources such as fishes, snails, and reptiles in the savannas’ rivers and lakes,” she elaborated. The study also suggests that younger children ate less maize than older people, likely due to the consumption of breast milk. Maize-based gruels are thought to have been introduced into the diet around three or four years of age. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS One. To read about the beginning of maize cultivation in the Maya world, go to "The Great Maize Migration."