Old Bottle, New Wine

The Function of Chultuns in the Maya Lowlands

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2575136
AutoresBruce H Dahlin (Howard University, autor de correspondencia), William Joseph Litzinger (NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research)
Año1986
Volumen51
Número4
Páginas721-736
Fecha de publicación1986-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/280861
OpenAlexW2327587619
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20
Referencias citadas18

Prior research on the function of shoe-shaped chultuns found in the southern Yucatan peninsula has focused on their use for household level storage of dry foodstuffs. We found that inter- and intra-site distribution patterns of chultuns do not support the household storage hypothesis. At Tikal only 20-25% of the households had chultuns, and most of these households had two or more chultuns. We believe the distributional data suggest that chultuns were associated with a cottage-level industry in the context of a vending economy. Because the internal environment of chultuns appears favorable for conducting fermentations, we propose that they were used as places to process, and for limited periods to store, fermented foods such as alcoholic beverages and pickled fruits. The greatest demand for chultun products was apparently centered around large urban sites in northeastern Peten and northern Belize where frequent civic/religious festivals encouraged a small to moderate market potential

Agricultural economics · Archaeology · Biology · Bottle · Context (archaeology) · Cork · Distribution (mathematics) · Economics · Economy · Geography · Maya · Peninsula · Wine · Yucatan peninsula · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Ecology · Food Science