Ancient Maya Life: Preclassic Period

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Samabaj -- An Underwater Maya Site

Lake Atitlan (Lago Atitlán,) the resting place of Samabaj. Photo from the
The World Factbook, which is run by the CIA.

In the highlands of Guatemala is the deepest lake in Central America: Lake Atitlan. More than one site has been found in this lake, including Samabaj. Discovered in the 1994, this site has been likened to Atlantis, due to how it may have ended up in the lake. Samabaj even got noticed by National Geographic, which made a documentary on it.

Location
Samabaj is located in the southern part of Lake Atitlan (itself located in the Sololá Department) about 40 to 82 feet below the surface. (It changes.) Before it was submerged, the site was on an island. It is north of another site called Chuk'muk, which is on land.

Discovery

Original map created by NASA/JPL/NGA. Found on the
CIA World Factbook. Annotation for Lake Atitlan by me.

There are differing accounts on Samabaj's discovery. The account in Arqueología Subacuática says that it was discovered in 1996 by Robert Samayoa Asmus.

In 1994, he had found an artifact (a vessel) and decided to see what all he could find -- he came to think that there had been a community that was now under the lake. Two years later, he found the site. Four years later, he got the site registered as an archaeological site.

Name Origin
Samayoa is the creator of the site's current name: Samabaj is a mix of Samayoa and "abaj" -- "stone" in more than one Mayan language.

History
Samabaj dates to the Preclassic Period. Specifically, items from the site date to around about 300 BC to 300 AD. This makes them date to around the Late Preclassic.

It's possible that Samabaj was an important Preclassic Period community for the basin that the lake is located in. Based off of artifacts found (including the remains of people's houses,) the site was not only a place where people lived, but was also a place for religious pilgrimage. It may have been important during the time when another site, Semetabaj (which had enjoyed power for a time) was no longer a living community.

Samabaj's life as a community ended around the time the Preclassic Period was ending/when the Classic Period was beginning. That is, around 300 AD, the lake rose over the the land that Samabaj was built on -- a natural disaster may have been what made the water rise. (One possibility is a volcano erupting.)

Where did the people go? It's possible they went to another site: Chuk'muk. Around the time the Classic Period began, Chuk'muk got bigger -- and it may be because the Maya of Samabaj moved there. (Speaking of Chuk'muk: interestingly, in this period it became an important community in the basin that Lake Atitlan is in.)

References:
UNESCO: "Underwater archaeology: UNESCO to explore Lake Atitlán and compile register of best practices"; 02 June 2017

Google Books: "Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya"; Walter R.T. Witschey (editor); 2016

Google Books: "Maya Pilgrimage to Ritual Landscapes: Insights from Archaeology, History, and Ethnography; Joel W. Palka; 2014

Google Books: "Arqueología Subacuática: Amatitlán, Atitlán"; Guillermo Maya Amado, Sonia Medrano; 2011

Asociaci ó n Tikal: "Procesos Culturales y Patrones de Interacción en la Cuenca del Lago de Atitlán: 500 BC a 1,000 AD"; Tomás Barrientos, Marion Popenoe de Hatch, Carlos Alvarado; 2011

Universidad Francisco Marroquín: New Media: "Samabaj: un sitio sumergido en el Lago de Atitlán"; 24 September 2009

"Reuters": "Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake"; Sarah Grainger; October 30, 2009

Image Credit:
CIA: The World Factbook: Guatemala
(The 1st and the 13th photo in the gallery.)

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Ancient Maya Beekeeping

Two copies of bee images -- one of which may be in front of a hive --
in the Madrid Codex,taken from "Animal Figures in the Maya
Codices" (1910) with modification by the author.

That's right, the ancient Maya kept bees too! But they didn't keep honeybees, which belong to the genus Apis. Instead, the Maya back then raised one (or perhaps more) bees from the Melipona genus -- made up of "stingless" bees, or bees without stingers that work. The history of this activity kept on even past the Conquest and into today -- its modern name is meliponiculture.

The Beginning

So far, it looks like the specific part of the Preclassic Period called the Late Preclassic is the oldest time that archaeologists know there were beekeepers among the ancient Maya. As to where it began in the Maya area, one possibility is a smaller area that included a part of Guatemala, Mexico and Belize. Another source states that the first Maya keepers of stingless bees came from the Yucatan Peninsula.

Species

As you read, the Maya kept at least one kind of stingless bee, these kinds of bees being species that cannot sting. The particular species that we know the ancient Maya kept from was Melipona beecheii. (They may have kept others species. In fact, one book used as a reference for this article said that they also raised species of the genus Trigona.)

Two common names and some spellings for M. beecheii are xunan kab/xunaan kaab/xunan cab and colelcab/kolil kab, which you may see translated as "royal lady bee," "lady bee," or other similar terms. For making hives, xunan kab only pick trees that have become hollow -- and the space in a tree has to be at least 12 inches or so across. They're known to be good pollinators of certain plants including vanilla, though they don't pollinate as many flowers when they're out and about as other bees in the same genus.

Hives

From what's understood, the ancient Maya kept their bees in hives that were hollowed out logs -- though some used other things, like limestone -- with the sides plugged up and with a hole on one long side as an entrance/exit. Archaeologists have found disks made of stone that they think were plugs for hives' short sides-- they've found this kind of disk in the Postclassic, Preclassic and Classic Periods.

Products

The ancient Maya took both honey and cerumen -- or wax -- from their bees. The ancient Maya used xunan kab wax as a sort of lighter fluid for their torches. However, this wax not only spits but smokes when you light it, so when it comes to burning solid pieces of wax, honeybee wax is better for burning.

As for the honey, it has a texture that is thinner than honey from honeybees (of which a popular variety is Apis mellifera.) Its color is also darker, and the flavor of it is not the same as honeybee honey. One way the ancient Maya used it was in their cooking, using it, for example, as an ingredient in chocolate drinks. Another way they used honey was for religious purposes: as an ingredient in a drink used in rituals called balche -- a fermented mixture of honey, balche/balché (Lonchocarpus longistylus) bark, and water -- and as an offering to gods. A third way they used honey was in medicinal practices -- like honeybee honey, xunan kab honey's chemical makeup includes hydrogen peroxide, which can kill bacteria.

Gods

It seems that the ancient Maya had more than one god of bees. But one that we know about is Ah Mucen Kab. (You may also see other spellings, such as "Mucen" given instead as "Mucan," "Musen," or "Muzen.") the Madrid Codex, you can see pictures of bees, hives and gods next to beehives -- such as Itzamná (god D) -- in pages that you may see called the bee almanac. Archaeologists think they've found examples of beehives and an image of Ah Mucen Kab as parts of the design of an incense burner/icensario/censer (from Cozumel) that may have been made around 1450 AD.

On a related note, there's a theory that says the ancient Maya thought of one of the Hero Twins, Xbalanque (also known as Yax Balam) had a connection with bees.

Consideration

Here's a 2011 video on the xunan kab (that I've also used as a reference) -- it includes some of what life is like for them and Maya beekeepers in modern times: