The organization of stingless beekeeping (Meliponiculture) at Mayapán, Yucatan, Mexico
Introduction
When the Spanish arrived in the northern Yucatan, one of the most predominant agrarian practices was the breeding and handling of indigenous stingless bees. Most of what we know about Pre-Columbian beekeeping derives from ethnohistoric sources and ethnographic studies of traditional Maya communities (Villanueva-Gutiérrez et al., 2013). In particular, sources such as Diego de Landa’s Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán (Tozzer, 1941) attest to the widespread practice of meliponiculture in northern Yucatan at the Contact period, due to the significance of honey and beeswax to commercial exchange and tributary demands. New evidence from over 20 years of archaeological research at Mayapán, the primary political capital of northern Yucatan during the Postclassic period (CE 1150–1450), reveals that meliponiculture was a significant Pre-Columbian industry. Small limestone disks are numerous in certain contexts at this pre-modern urban city; they match descriptions of traditional beehive covers used during the Colonial period and beyond. The discovery of these disks raises numerous questions about the organization of meliponiculture at Mayapán. To what extent was this practice broadly spatially and socially distributed, and to what extent was this activity conditioned by socioeconomic factors, urban gardening, and/or industries relying on honey and wax products?
The findings presented in this study suggest that meliponiculture took place at a variety of scales, activity contexts, and degrees of specialization. We argue that intensified beekeeping is particularly associated with two complementary productive industries: balché (honey wine with hallucinogenic properties), and metallurgical production, through the use of beeswax to make casting models in the lost-wax casting process. Both of these products require the deployment of specialized knowledge, including fermentation for ceremonious events (balché) and technical knowledge (lost-wax metallurgy). The practice of beekeeping in the same spaces as the other two industries would constitute a form of multicraft production: “The concurrent practice of multiple crafts by different individuals or groups … in the same space or in a series of adjacent spaces” (Shimada, 2007: 5; see also Hirth, 2009:4). However, beekeeping was also a small-scale household productive activity, practiced independently and autonomously by many urban households at Mayapán. Similarly, small-scale craft production for other industries across the city existed alongside loci characterized by larger debris quantities indicative of surplus production (Masson et al., 2016). These findings contradict ethnographically-derived models of beekeeping as a practice that was concentrated in small villages and rural areas. Instead, our findings suggest that beekeeping was a critical component of Mayapán’s agro-urban economy.
Section snippets
Agrarian production and models of Maya urbanism
The degree to which agrarian practices such as beekeeping were integrated into ancient Maya cities touches on long-standing debates about the unplanned, low-density nature of Maya cities, and the integration of agrarian activity and craft production activities. Many scholars have traditionally conceptualized farming and associated activities as both autonomous and redundant, centered predominantly on villages and rural areas. This view of agrarian activity derives in part from segmentary state
Ethnographic and ethnohistoric models of meliponiculture in northwest Yucatan
Ethnographic and ethnohistorical records provide an important source of information on the organization of meliponiculture during the early Colonial period, and in the latter half of the 20th century, with particular reference to the local context of northwest Yucatan. These records describe diverse ways in which beekeeping articulated with urban/rural economies; varying scales of production are evident. We also recognize that these models are derived from post-Contact communities. The collapse
The multiple uses of honey and wax: exchange, craft production, and ritual
Ethnographic and ethnohistorical records also suggest that the honey and wax produced through meliponiculture were valuable commodities during the early Colonial period, and in the latter half of the 20th century. As discussed below, these records suggest that beeswax was an important raw material in numerous craft industries: lost-wax metallurgy, weapons hafting, featherworking, pottery production, and scribal record-keeping. Honey was an important comestible/sweetener and medicinal substance,
Archaeological evidence for meliponiculture and lost-wax casting at Mayapán
The city of Mayapán was the largest and most densely populated in northern Yucatan at the height of its power, during the Postclassic Period (CE 1150–1450; Masson and Peraza Lope, 2014a). As with most cities, it played an important role as a center of political administration, craft production, trade, and religious ritual, both for its own residents and members of the regional confederacy for which it served as the seat of rulership (Masson and Peraza Lope, 2014a). Thanks to the investigations
The spatial distribution of meliponiculture at Mayapán
Archaeological evidence for meliponiculture at Mayapán is associated with 75 different structures throughout Mayapán (Table 1, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 10). Of these, 41 structures were located in the monumental zone, while 34 structures were located in the residential zone. The presence of 98 limestone disks in association with the structures of the monumental zone runs contrary to expectations based on ethnographic and ethnohistorical data. Nine of the disks from the monumental zone were
Meliponiculture and multicraft production at Mayapán
Below, we describe evidence for four spheres of meliponiculture as it was practiced at Mayapán: (1) Meliponiculture for concentrated honey and wax production (at elite residential and public buildings); (2) Meliponiculture for multicraft production with lost-wax metallurgy (artisanal); (3) Small-scale meliponiculture within the monumental zone; and (4) Small-scale meliponiculture at ordinary dwellings. Significant surplus production for specialized activities is suggested for two locations,
Beekeeping and models of agro-urbanism at Mayapán
The evidence for widespread urban beekeeping at Mayapán highlights the diversified nature of agrarian practices within Maya cities. As Barthel and Isendahl (2013: 224, 228) have argued, urban farming is not only common in ancient cities, but serves as a key resiliency facet in maintaining household food security, and contradicts modernist understandings of urban life as detached from rural ecosystems and agricultural production (c.f. Wirth, 1938). Previous studies have productively documented a
Conclusion
Agrarian practices such as meliponiculture were widespread at Mayapán and deeply integrated into numerous aspects of its urban economy, lending further support to models of agro-urban production in Maya cities. The extensive evidence for meliponiculture within Mayapán’s city walls itself runs counter to ethnographically-derived models of beekeeping traditions concentrated in small villages and rural areas. Instead, evidence for the most intensified production contexts for meliponiculture was
Data availability statement
Data will be made available by request to the authors.
Acknowledgements
Research in Mayapán’s settlement zone has been facilitated by generous support of the National Science Foundation (Masson, Hare NSF-BCS-1144511, 0742128, 0109426); by the National Geographic’s Committee for Research and Exploration (Masson/Peraza Lope/Hare, #8598-1; Paris, #9486-14); by the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis, University at Albany’s College of Arts and Sciences (Masson), and by the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection (Paris, 2014-2015), under the permission of
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