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Ancient Maya marketplace discovered

From:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22082459/

Dec 3, 2007

Scientists trace chemical residues found in Yucatan soil

Chemical residues found in soil from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula indicate that the ancient Maya traded food in marketplaces, a practice long considered unlikely by archaeologists.

From examining the sites of ancient Maya cities, archaeologists have long recognized that the cities were home to more people than the local agricultural capacities could have supported, said Shepherd University archaeologist Bruce Dahlin, who led the new study of the Yucatan soil.

So for years, archaeologists looked for evidence of advanced farming practices that could have ramped up agricultural capacities beyond what archaeologists can observe, thus sustaining the populations. The idea that the Maya might have imported food and other goods wasn't taken seriously because most archaeologists thought that the Maya elite had a system whereby underlings were paid for loyalty by goods passed down the social ladder.

Still, large, open areas found in settlements of the Classic era (about A.D. 300 to 900) seemed to look like possible marketplaces, but archaeologists could find no strong indications of the areas' purpose. This is where the chemical residues came in handy.

Dahlin brought in environmental scientist Richard Terry of Brigham Young University and his team to analyze surface soil samples from Chunchucmil in the western Yucatan for indications that food had once been there. These indications come in the form of phosphorus, left in the soil by decomposed food.

"All food materials contain phosphorus, and a common denominator of all humans is that they bring food to places where they live," Terry said. "Over time, the organic matter is ground into the soil and rots, but the phosphorus holds to the soil particles even in a tropical rain forest that gets a meter or two of rain every year."