Dennis E. Puleston
Encyclopedia
Dennis E. Puleston Ph.D (19 June 1940–29 June 1978) was an American archaeologist and ecologist. Dr. Puleston took archaeology
, biology
, and ecology
and developed an approach to understanding human interactions with nature that is an example of interdisciplinarity more than thirty years after his passing. Puleston's work was a causal factor in the wave of ecological and experimental archaeological project in the 80's and 90's as one of the first to suggest the use of applied archaeology. His work is still used to teach the importance of diversity in scientific interest, need for social relevance, and problem solving in archaeology classes due to the broadness of his approach. Puleston's work ranged from experiments in reconstruction and usefulness testing of chultun
s or raised fields, building a traditional dugout canoe
and using it to investigate otherwise unreachable areas, or challenging the belief that the Ancient Maya
subsisted on a milpa
agricultural complex – maize
, beans, and squash.
and Elizabeth Puleston. He has one brother, Peter, and two sisters, Sally and Jennifer.His father was a noted ornithologist and environmentalist, and it is from him that the younger Dennis learned a love of adventure, the outdoors, and science. According to puleston.org—a repository for a majority of Puleston's works and photographs from the field, Dennis “lived and worked in such places as the Canadian wilderness, the island of Moorea
, Society Islands
, and the tropical forests of Central America
which he came to love deeply.”
Dennis attended high school at Bellport High School
, in Brookhaven, New York
, and upon graduating embarked on his own adventures. A great illustration of his adventures and eventual decision to become an archaeologist is found in the following excerpt from Harrison and Messenger’s obituary:
As a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania
, Dennis met and married Olga Stavrakis. Dennis and Olga had a son, Cedric, and a daughter, Lyda. During many of Dennis’s adventures his family would accompany him.His Brother, Peter and his wife, Olga were partners and contributors to a number of his projects, and his son, Cedric is now in cunducting post-doc work in the field.
Puleston’s career was intimately tied to Tikal. He spent his years at graduate school studying at Tikal with William Haviland
under the direction of his advisor, William Coe
. Puleston mapped causeways, earthworks, homesites, and chultuns with Haviland and contributed significantly to the increase of population estimates in the region. He mapped the eathworks around Tikal that have been suggested to be indicative of deffensive fortifications (rarely found in the Maya Lowlands) or the borders of the site. He studied caves and sacred writing to expand knowledge on the spirtual beliefs of the ancient Maya. And, he developed several important hypotheses on Maya subsistence and agriculture that are discussed below.
, Dennis’s approach was novel in its ability to juxtapose the micro and macro perspectives of these environments into one coherent argument. Traditional archaeological methods rest on theory interpreted through anthropological observations and repetition of artifactual data from site to site. However, a more encompassing approach was needed to address the problems Puleston was studying. Therefore, he set forth to test many of his theories through experiments in the environment. A wave of such approaches was evident in the aftermath of Puleston’s death, as evident in the book, Maya Subsistence: A Tribute to Dennis E. Puleston and In the recordings of the proceedings of Puleston's memorial conference (available at http://findingaids.princeton.edu/getAid?eadid=WC012&kw= ), entitled "The History and Development of Maya Subsistence, which was held in October 1979 in Minneapolis. Unfortunately, arguments of environmental change since the 8th and 9th century decline of Lowland Maya societies have been convincing and have been used to undermine the expiremental approach to archaeology to the point that it is now rarely practiced. Consequently, there is a waning in the study of ecology and archaeology through these experiments. Despite this, there are still questions to be answered through expiremental means and a portion of the field, paricularly in Europe,but also including American researchers like Clark Erickson and John P. Hart are actively involved in experimental archaeology to this day. Below are brief synopses of two of Puleston's works in experimental archaeology.
Dr. Puleston conducted three experiments to test the chultuns. First, he filled a chultun with water and watched it drain away quickly. This lent credibility to his assertion that chultuns of this region were not for water storage. Next, Puleston built a chultun. To do so he created stone tools similar to those that would have been used to construct one 1,000 years ago. Upon completion, in 1966, Puleston filled the chultun with a diversity of locally produced dietary contributions, like maize, beans, squash, and cassava
. Every two weeks, Puleston would pull the items out and document their state of preservation. These items were weighed, examined, and photographed. The observations were then compared to a control group that was store above ground. However, the control group was quickly consumed by rodents and insects. While the chultun stored produce was not consumed, the end products were also not consumable. Upon completion of this 11 week experiment, Puleston (1971) noted that, “while the chultun apparently offered valuable protection from vermin, it evidently could not be used for the storage of maize, beans, or squash”. The following year Puleston tried the experiment once more, but this time he added a nut from a local tree – the Brosium Alicastrum (ramon) to the mix. O.F. Cook
(1935) is cited in Puleston’s article as the originator of the idea that chultuns could have been used to store ramon nuts, however, without Puleston’s experiment this assertion had never been taken seriously. What Puleston found changed many archaeologist's opinion of the ramon's utility and its possible utilization in ancient Maya society. Not only did the ramon nuts survive the 13 week experiment that once again devastated the comparable crops, after 13 months, ”they were still in excellent condition and completely edible”. Puleston will draw on these experiments for further work on the ramon as an alternative staple in the Maya diet. The resultant argument can be seen in a number of the linked articles below, and a synopsis of his findings is included below.
record and ethnographic data from the observation of Maya populations since the conquest
lead archaeology to adopt the theory that ancient Maya populations were reliant on swidden (slash and burn) agriculture. This swidden hypothesis continued, relatively unchallenged, for hundreds of years. More recently, however, the realization that many Classic Period Maya sites were too large in population to be supported with such subsistence technologies has combined with the observations of numerous physical manifestations of agricultural intensification to unseat the swidden hypothesis from its thrown. However several sites are extremely problematic due to their high populations and the lack of clear evidence of localized intensification processes. The situation at Tikal, Guatemala is indicative of such issues.
Many ascribe to the hypothesis that Tikal, as a major state level society in the Peten, would have used military force and diplomacy to demand tribute
to alleviate population pressure
on their localized subsistence base. A subsistence base that Puleston note as seeming “to provide an environmental antithesis of what might be expected to produce civilization on the basis of the other examples”. While there is a significant case to be made for such assertions during times of power in Tikal, every Maya site cycles between times of prosperity and recessionary periods, both economically and politically. Tikal was no exception. Tikal’s “hiatus” in the Late Classic Period, after a series of defeats at the hands of Caracol, Naranjo
, and Calakmul
, would have put a significant barrier up against Tikal’s ability to extract tribute. Therefore, another source of sustenance would be needed in Tikal.
Following the above mentioned experiments with the chultuns of Tikal, Puleston began to investigate the Brosium Alicastrum (ramon) tree as an alternative to the traditionally accepted Maya triad (maize, beans, and squash) for staple level utilization and to address the sustenance issue mentioned above. Once again Puleston uses experimentation to challenge long accepted theories. Consider the following excerpt from The Role of Ramon in Maya Subsistence:
Puleston makes an argument for the possibility of Ramon utilization as a staple in a number of his articles. While this hypothesis has not been universally accepted, Puleston’s work with the Ramon tree and its fruit have been utilized in recent agricultural programs in Southern Mexico, like those in Peten, Guatemala
, where according to Rainforest Alliance’s
article, A Little Nut with Big Possibilities, “the world's first ramón nut-based school lunch program, Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests is helping to feed more than 8,000 children from 46 rural communities, while providing jobs for women and offering a real incentive for forest conservation”.
Problem areas aside, Puleston’s work with ramon showed promise as an alternative source of calories for sites with no clearly observable alternatives for intensification. According to Puleston, “Three features made the ramon stand out: (1) it showed a close association with sites, (2) it was an edible staple, and (3) it was storable” as seen in the chultun experiments above. Based on these features, Dennis’s team, originally consisting of Dennis, Jeffrey Parsons, and Richard Blanton, began to collect data on Ramon productivity. The results of these expirements are important. Consider this excerpt from Puleston(1982) for demonstration:
When contrasted with his observation that “maize under the best of conditions and minimum fallowing periods can yield little more than an average of 324 kg/ha/year”. wild untended ramon is shown to be more than 5 times more productive than maize per unit of land. Puleston’s experiments also analyzed the nutritional quality of ramon nuts and compared them with alternative crops available to the Maya (see charts in his thesis link below). In many cases ramon scored higher than these alternatives. In fact his research showed that, ramon is advantageously comparable to maize in the quantity and quality of its protein content, as well as its content of calcium
, iron, niacin
, vitamins A and B, and the desperately deficient element of the traditional Maya diet, tryptophan
(1982, 161-162). Finally, Puleston’s team evaluated the efficiency of labor input needed to cultivate and harvest the ramon nuts. Citing Carter (1969), Puleston assumes the figure of 2000-3000 man-hours needed to maintain a traditional maize field at a level that produces sufficient food for an average Maya family. His experiments at Tikal in 1973 produced data that indicated the same family could be supplied for the year with the more easily stored ramon seeds in less than 100 Man-hours (1982: 362). Therefore an investment of 3% to 5% of the time spent conducting slash and burn agriculture could supply the caloric needs of the same family through ramon-based tree cropping.
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, and ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
and developed an approach to understanding human interactions with nature that is an example of interdisciplinarity more than thirty years after his passing. Puleston's work was a causal factor in the wave of ecological and experimental archaeological project in the 80's and 90's as one of the first to suggest the use of applied archaeology. His work is still used to teach the importance of diversity in scientific interest, need for social relevance, and problem solving in archaeology classes due to the broadness of his approach. Puleston's work ranged from experiments in reconstruction and usefulness testing of chultun
Chultun
A chultun is a bottle-shaped underground storage chamber built by the pre-Columbian Maya in southern Mesoamerica. Their entrances were surrounded by plastered aprons which guided rainwater into them during the rainy seasons...
s or raised fields, building a traditional dugout canoe
Aboriginal Dugout Canoes
Aboriginal Dugout Canoes were a significant advancement in canoe technology. Dugouts were stronger, faster, and more efficient than previous types of bark canoes. The Aboriginals' use of these canoes brought about many changes to both their hunting practices and society. The Australian Aboriginal...
and using it to investigate otherwise unreachable areas, or challenging the belief that the Ancient Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
subsisted on a milpa
Milpa
right|thumb|A typical modern Central American Milpa. The corn stalks have been bent and left to dry with cobs still on, for other crops, such as beans, to be planted. Milpa is a crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica...
agricultural complex – maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, beans, and squash.
Biography
Puleston was born on 19 June 1940 to DennisDennis Puleston
Dennis Puleston was a British-born American environmentalist, adventurer and designer. He is perhaps best known for playing a key part in securing a nationwide ban in the United States on the use of the pesticide DDT, a decision regarded as the first important success of the emerging...
and Elizabeth Puleston. He has one brother, Peter, and two sisters, Sally and Jennifer.His father was a noted ornithologist and environmentalist, and it is from him that the younger Dennis learned a love of adventure, the outdoors, and science. According to puleston.org—a repository for a majority of Puleston's works and photographs from the field, Dennis “lived and worked in such places as the Canadian wilderness, the island of Moorea
Moorea
Moʻorea is a high island in French Polynesia, part of the Society Islands, 17 km northwest of Tahiti. Its position is . Moʻorea means "yellow lizard" in Tahitian...
, Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
, and the tropical forests of Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
which he came to love deeply.”
Dennis attended high school at Bellport High School
Bellport High School
Bellport High School is the public high school for the South Country Central School District, which is located in Suffolk County, Long Island in the United States. It serves students in grades 9-12 in Bellport, East Patchogue, Brookhaven Hamlet and parts of Medford and North Bellport. The current...
, in Brookhaven, New York
Brookhaven, New York
The Town of Brookhaven is one of the ten towns into which Suffolk County, New York, United States, has been divided. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is located in central Suffolk County and is the only town in the county that stretches from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long...
, and upon graduating embarked on his own adventures. A great illustration of his adventures and eventual decision to become an archaeologist is found in the following excerpt from Harrison and Messenger’s obituary:
- Before beginning formal study of biology at Antioch CollegeAntioch CollegeAntioch College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was the founder and the flagship institution of the six-campus Antioch University system. Founded in 1852 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1853 with politician and...
, he [Dennis] spent a season working with the National Film Board of CanadaNational Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
as assistant in the production of a cinematic study of tundra ecologyTundraIn physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
. During the years of study at Antioch, Denny’s interest in archaeology developed through a series of contacts and field experiences. In 1960 he worked as a student assistant under Roland Force and Paul S. MartinPaul S. MartinPaul S. Martin was a geoscientist at the University of Arizona who developed the theory that the Pleistocene extinction of large mammals worldwide was caused by overhunting by humans...
in the Chicago Natural History Museum. It was Paul Martin who arranged a visit for Denny and a classmate to TikalTikalTikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...
in GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
via a letter of introduction to Edwin S. Shook, then director of the project. When they arrived in Guatemala the pair found tickets to Tikal waiting for them and a warm welcome at the site. For Denny the visit stretched into the 1961 field season, then another, and another….
As a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Dennis met and married Olga Stavrakis. Dennis and Olga had a son, Cedric, and a daughter, Lyda. During many of Dennis’s adventures his family would accompany him.His Brother, Peter and his wife, Olga were partners and contributors to a number of his projects, and his son, Cedric is now in cunducting post-doc work in the field.
Puleston’s career was intimately tied to Tikal. He spent his years at graduate school studying at Tikal with William Haviland
William Haviland
William Haviland was an Irish-born general in the British Army. He is best known for his service in North America during the Seven Years' War.-Life:William Haviland was born in Ireland in 1718...
under the direction of his advisor, William Coe
William R. Coe (archaeologist)
William Robertson Coe II was an American academic, archaeologist and Mayanist scholar, renowned for his extensive field work and publications on pre-Columbian Maya civilization sites...
. Puleston mapped causeways, earthworks, homesites, and chultuns with Haviland and contributed significantly to the increase of population estimates in the region. He mapped the eathworks around Tikal that have been suggested to be indicative of deffensive fortifications (rarely found in the Maya Lowlands) or the borders of the site. He studied caves and sacred writing to expand knowledge on the spirtual beliefs of the ancient Maya. And, he developed several important hypotheses on Maya subsistence and agriculture that are discussed below.
Approach to archaeology
While several of Puleston’s contemporaries were concerned with human interactions with nature -- cultural ecologyCultural ecology
Cultural ecology studies the relationship between a given society and its natural environment as well as the life-forms and ecosystems that support its lifeways . This may be carried out diachronically , or synchronically...
, Dennis’s approach was novel in its ability to juxtapose the micro and macro perspectives of these environments into one coherent argument. Traditional archaeological methods rest on theory interpreted through anthropological observations and repetition of artifactual data from site to site. However, a more encompassing approach was needed to address the problems Puleston was studying. Therefore, he set forth to test many of his theories through experiments in the environment. A wave of such approaches was evident in the aftermath of Puleston’s death, as evident in the book, Maya Subsistence: A Tribute to Dennis E. Puleston and In the recordings of the proceedings of Puleston's memorial conference (available at http://findingaids.princeton.edu/getAid?eadid=WC012&kw= ), entitled "The History and Development of Maya Subsistence, which was held in October 1979 in Minneapolis. Unfortunately, arguments of environmental change since the 8th and 9th century decline of Lowland Maya societies have been convincing and have been used to undermine the expiremental approach to archaeology to the point that it is now rarely practiced. Consequently, there is a waning in the study of ecology and archaeology through these experiments. Despite this, there are still questions to be answered through expiremental means and a portion of the field, paricularly in Europe,but also including American researchers like Clark Erickson and John P. Hart are actively involved in experimental archaeology to this day. Below are brief synopses of two of Puleston's works in experimental archaeology.
Research into chultuns
Chultuns are man-made holes in the ground and are found in many parts of Mesoamerica. They come in several forms, but they are all called by the same moniker. In 1971, Puleston wrote an article entitled, An Experimental Approach to the Function of Classic Maya Chultuns. Within this article, he shows that, despite the common name, there are several different types of chultuns and he suggests that these different styles were indicative of differing uses. In this article, he asserted that while the first chultuns documented where single chambers with plastered walls for holding and collecting water, the chultuns in the Tikal region were different in shape, not plastered, and did not hold water.Dr. Puleston conducted three experiments to test the chultuns. First, he filled a chultun with water and watched it drain away quickly. This lent credibility to his assertion that chultuns of this region were not for water storage. Next, Puleston built a chultun. To do so he created stone tools similar to those that would have been used to construct one 1,000 years ago. Upon completion, in 1966, Puleston filled the chultun with a diversity of locally produced dietary contributions, like maize, beans, squash, and cassava
Cassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
. Every two weeks, Puleston would pull the items out and document their state of preservation. These items were weighed, examined, and photographed. The observations were then compared to a control group that was store above ground. However, the control group was quickly consumed by rodents and insects. While the chultun stored produce was not consumed, the end products were also not consumable. Upon completion of this 11 week experiment, Puleston (1971) noted that, “while the chultun apparently offered valuable protection from vermin, it evidently could not be used for the storage of maize, beans, or squash”. The following year Puleston tried the experiment once more, but this time he added a nut from a local tree – the Brosium Alicastrum (ramon) to the mix. O.F. Cook
Orator F. Cook
Orator Fuller Cook was an American botanist, entomologist, and agronomist. Cook, born in Clyde, New York in 1867, graduated from Syracuse University in 1890. He worked for one year as an instructor at Syracuse. In 1891 Cook became a special agent of the New York State Colonization Society. He...
(1935) is cited in Puleston’s article as the originator of the idea that chultuns could have been used to store ramon nuts, however, without Puleston’s experiment this assertion had never been taken seriously. What Puleston found changed many archaeologist's opinion of the ramon's utility and its possible utilization in ancient Maya society. Not only did the ramon nuts survive the 13 week experiment that once again devastated the comparable crops, after 13 months, ”they were still in excellent condition and completely edible”. Puleston will draw on these experiments for further work on the ramon as an alternative staple in the Maya diet. The resultant argument can be seen in a number of the linked articles below, and a synopsis of his findings is included below.
Research into Brosium Alicastrum (Ramon)
The ethnohistoricEthnohistory
Ethnohistory is the study of ethnographic cultures and indigenous customs by examining historical records. It is also the study of the history of various ethnic groups that may or may not exist today....
record and ethnographic data from the observation of Maya populations since the conquest
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
lead archaeology to adopt the theory that ancient Maya populations were reliant on swidden (slash and burn) agriculture. This swidden hypothesis continued, relatively unchallenged, for hundreds of years. More recently, however, the realization that many Classic Period Maya sites were too large in population to be supported with such subsistence technologies has combined with the observations of numerous physical manifestations of agricultural intensification to unseat the swidden hypothesis from its thrown. However several sites are extremely problematic due to their high populations and the lack of clear evidence of localized intensification processes. The situation at Tikal, Guatemala is indicative of such issues.
Many ascribe to the hypothesis that Tikal, as a major state level society in the Peten, would have used military force and diplomacy to demand tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
to alleviate population pressure
Overpopulation
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
on their localized subsistence base. A subsistence base that Puleston note as seeming “to provide an environmental antithesis of what might be expected to produce civilization on the basis of the other examples”. While there is a significant case to be made for such assertions during times of power in Tikal, every Maya site cycles between times of prosperity and recessionary periods, both economically and politically. Tikal was no exception. Tikal’s “hiatus” in the Late Classic Period, after a series of defeats at the hands of Caracol, Naranjo
Naranjo
Naranjo is an ancient city of the Maya civilization in the Petén Basin region of the central Maya lowlands. It is located in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala about 10 km west of the border with Belize. It is located within the area of the Cultural Triangle of Yaxha, Nakum, Naranjo...
, and Calakmul
Calakmul
Calakmul is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands...
, would have put a significant barrier up against Tikal’s ability to extract tribute. Therefore, another source of sustenance would be needed in Tikal.
Following the above mentioned experiments with the chultuns of Tikal, Puleston began to investigate the Brosium Alicastrum (ramon) tree as an alternative to the traditionally accepted Maya triad (maize, beans, and squash) for staple level utilization and to address the sustenance issue mentioned above. Once again Puleston uses experimentation to challenge long accepted theories. Consider the following excerpt from The Role of Ramon in Maya Subsistence:
- It is my intention here to suggest that our view on the relationship between ancient Maya culture and its environment, particularly with regard to subsistence practices, has been totally wrong. Perhaps heavily biased by our own agricultural heritage, Western archaeologists have been extremely slow to question long-accepted basic assumptions about the Maya. Far from being "the least desirable environment for human occupation in Mesoamerica," the tropical forests of the Maya Lowlands, in fact, seem to have offered certain specific resources which, because they were utilized skillfully, permitted the rise of a state society, which was sustained by one of the highest regional population densities in the preindustrial world.
Puleston makes an argument for the possibility of Ramon utilization as a staple in a number of his articles. While this hypothesis has not been universally accepted, Puleston’s work with the Ramon tree and its fruit have been utilized in recent agricultural programs in Southern Mexico, like those in Peten, Guatemala
Petén
Petén or Peten may refer to:*Petén , a department of Guatemala*Petén Basin, the geographical / archaeological region of Mesoamerica and a center of the Maya civilization*Lake Petén Itzá, a lake in the Petén Basin region...
, where according to Rainforest Alliance’s
Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization with the published aims of working to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. It is based in New York City, and has offices throughout the...
article, A Little Nut with Big Possibilities, “the world's first ramón nut-based school lunch program, Healthy Kids, Healthy Forests is helping to feed more than 8,000 children from 46 rural communities, while providing jobs for women and offering a real incentive for forest conservation”.
Problem areas aside, Puleston’s work with ramon showed promise as an alternative source of calories for sites with no clearly observable alternatives for intensification. According to Puleston, “Three features made the ramon stand out: (1) it showed a close association with sites, (2) it was an edible staple, and (3) it was storable” as seen in the chultun experiments above. Based on these features, Dennis’s team, originally consisting of Dennis, Jeffrey Parsons, and Richard Blanton, began to collect data on Ramon productivity. The results of these expirements are important. Consider this excerpt from Puleston(1982) for demonstration:
- I set up a grid on a 900 [square meter] plot of forest floor at Tikal. This plot was divided into 100 3[square meter] plots from which a sample of 25 was randomly selected for systematic collection and weighing of the seed fall during the fruiting season. This was done over a period of three years, during which time the plots yielded an average of 1,763 kg/ha/year. This was despite the fact that the trees were untended and in full competition with other non-food producing species that crowded around them.
When contrasted with his observation that “maize under the best of conditions and minimum fallowing periods can yield little more than an average of 324 kg/ha/year”. wild untended ramon is shown to be more than 5 times more productive than maize per unit of land. Puleston’s experiments also analyzed the nutritional quality of ramon nuts and compared them with alternative crops available to the Maya (see charts in his thesis link below). In many cases ramon scored higher than these alternatives. In fact his research showed that, ramon is advantageously comparable to maize in the quantity and quality of its protein content, as well as its content of calcium
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
, iron, niacin
Niacin
"Niacin" redirects here. For the neo-fusion band, see Niacin .Niacin is an organic compound with the formula and, depending on the definition used, one of the forty to eighty essential human nutrients.Niacin is one of five vitamins associated with a pandemic deficiency disease: niacin deficiency...
, vitamins A and B, and the desperately deficient element of the traditional Maya diet, tryptophan
Tryptophan
Tryptophan is one of the 20 standard amino acids, as well as an essential amino acid in the human diet. It is encoded in the standard genetic code as the codon UGG...
(1982, 161-162). Finally, Puleston’s team evaluated the efficiency of labor input needed to cultivate and harvest the ramon nuts. Citing Carter (1969), Puleston assumes the figure of 2000-3000 man-hours needed to maintain a traditional maize field at a level that produces sufficient food for an average Maya family. His experiments at Tikal in 1973 produced data that indicated the same family could be supplied for the year with the more easily stored ramon seeds in less than 100 Man-hours (1982: 362). Therefore an investment of 3% to 5% of the time spent conducting slash and burn agriculture could supply the caloric needs of the same family through ramon-based tree cropping.