Ancient Maya Plant Use at Altar de Sacrificios
Christine Hastorf, Professor
Anthropology
Applications for Spring 2025 are closed for this project.
This project will involve laboratory analysis of preserved plant remains collected from household contexts at a Maya archaeological site called Altar de Sacrificios, which is located on the border of Guatemala and Mexico. The samples were collected from a range of time periods, ranging from the Preclassic to the Postclassic periods. The goal of the project is to understand the subsistence and food related practices of these ancient inhabitants and to also speculate if any plant-based material were involved in major political changes and trade at this Maya city.
Role: Students will help to sort, extract, and identify plant remains from soil samples that were processed using flotation from recent archaeological excavations. Tasks included will be: sorting and identification of charred macrobotanical remains under light microscope, separation via geological sieve of macrobotanical samples, weighing specimens, and possibly microscopic photography of specimens using a Scanning Electron Microscope in order to identify the plant material. Through these tasks, the undergraduate researcher will become proficient in laboratory organization skills, the operation of optical microscopes, and digital microscopic photography. Some level of seed and plant morphology will be learned throughout the semester as well, as well as a familiarization with general archaeological analysis and interpretation.
Qualifications: Students should have an interest in either archaeology, botany, plant morphology, food studies, forest management, or microscopic analysis. Prior experience with a microscope would be helpful, but is not necessary.
Desired skills include an attention to detail, a good sense of organization, an appreciation for visual-based analysis, and the ability to work independently.
Due to scheduling constraints, students must be available to work in the laboratory on campus on either Tuesdays or Thursdays during the Spring semester.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Venicia Slotten, Staff Researcher
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Social Sciences Mathematical and Physical Sciences