Rare Mayan Salt Works in Belize Lagoon Tops Latest Worldwide Archaeological News!

October 13, 2022
by belizehubstaff +

Photo Credit: Artnews.com

The month of October is just getting started, but it’s been a banner month for archaeologists around the globe. The sarcophagus of Ptah-em-wia was proclaimed a dream discovery near Cairo when it was unearthed at the ancient necropolis Saqqara, and as a natural pipeline was being installed on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, the remains of 21 people who lived between 600 and 800 years ago were found.

Perhaps the most dramatic find of all is the Ta’ab Nuk Na salt works site in Payne’s Creek National Park, Belize. This once-submerged, 1500-year-old site filled with “a rare grouping of underwater Mayan structures” is likely the story that gets the most headlines because, says lead archaeologist E. Cory Sills, hundreds of wooden posts indicative of Classic Maya ‘pole and thatch’ wooden buildings are so rare.

Included within the newly unearthed layout are three salt kitchens. How did this remarkable site function back in the 6th century C.E.? Effortlessly, say scientists whose understanding of Late Classic Maya Culture support research into contemporary life in an era where “work from home” had nothing to do with computers and Internet connections.

People living at this location harvested and refined salt, fished, prepared food, spun cotton, created crafts and operated within a bustling community. A single commodity was responsible for this flourishing society: Salt. It was essential generations ago and this center of commerce provided plenty of it.

We may take table salt for granted, but for the inhabitants of Ta’ab Nuk Na, this enterprise helped community members survive and flourish because it supported itself by trading salt. Archaeologists estimate that this operation alone provided enough salt for 24,000 area inhabitants.

Even the processing method was efficient. Salt was collected from the lagoon, hardened in pots, and shaped into cakes that were used to salt fish and meat as well as acting as bartering currency.

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Had lagoon water levels not fallen, would archaeologists mining this site have unearthed what was once a thriving commercial enterprise? Probably not—and as the site was probed, artifacts were located as well. Diggers found carinas, a ceramic spindle whirl, incense burners, plus tools and toys, each item representing a vibrant, collective of people of all ages who oversaw these operations.

For inveterate archaeologists, this find revealed a vivid picture of life as it was centuries ago, but the single most valuable find has to do with the preservation of wood structures because it’s so rare. Speculation that embedding poles in mangrove peat may have preserved them, but further research is needed to make that determination.

No matter the reason these traces of wood exist, archaeologists can’t help but compare this site to Lubaantun due to the richness of artifacts unearthed in addition to those post holes. While salt production at Ta’ab Nuk Na “appears to have stopped after 800 C.E. during the Terminal Classic era,” say dig team members, researchers plan to look for more salt production sites in the area, to further unearth secrets of the past that have made Belize an epicenter of Mayan culture.