Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ABSTRACT
Ethnohistoric and archaeological evidence indicates that the produc-
tion and distribution of food was an important source of agency and
power for ancient Mayan women. Although it is believed that elite
women controlled food used in rituals, isotopic measures of diet from
a variety of sites representing different environments and time periods
indicate that they ate fewer ideologically valued foods than males. By
contrast, non-elite women appear to have consumed the same foods as
their male equivalents. This finding may suggest that: women did not
participate in ritual consumption of food in the same way or to the same
extent that men did, or that food consumption was associated with
gender identity. Preferential access to ritual foods by males ceases after
the Spanish conquest but males continued to have more carnivorous
diets. This phenomenon could be caused by the conversion of public
rituals to private the assimilation of Spanish gender values or an
underlying ideology that is maintained in gendered dietary differences.
KEY WORDS
ethnohistory gender Maya paleodiet ritual stable isotope
analysis status
356
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:08 am Page 357
INTRODUCTION
writing, and caveats about the use of analogy (Wylie, 1985; Vail and Stone,
2004), Landas observations are offered here with great caution. In addition
to being in charge of housekeeping and the education of children, he
described women as controlling spinning, weaving and food preparation,
and drew them making pottery. Although it is not clear how much control
they had over the production of the agricultural staple (maize), they are
described as working in the fields and harvesting the crops when necessary.
This observation is substantiated by archaeological evidence from spatial
analysis (Neff, 2004; Robin, 2004) but the degree of female engagement in
agriculture varied over time and location. Women were also in charge of
raising domestic animals (including deer) and fowl (for feathers) (Landa,
1566; Pohl and Feldman, 1982). Landa (1566: 55) also describes women as
great economists, in charge of the payment of tributes, hiring each others
labour, buying and selling.
The social and economic importance of female activities is also visible
in earlier times (Bruhns and Stothert, 1999; Clancy et al., 1985; Clark and
Houston, 1998; Clarkson, 1978; Hammond, 1975; Hendon, 1997; Joyce, 1993,
1996; Schele and Miller, 1986; Sweely, 1999; Tate, 1999; Vail and Stone,
2004). Among other things, the evidence consistently points to the import-
ance of women in the production of food and textiles, a role that seems to
have been widespread in Mesoamerica (Beaudry-Corbett and McCafferty,
2004; McCafferty and McCafferty, 1998; Sweely, 1999). Both textiles and
food were vital to the success of rituals, and rituals were essential for not
only ensuring good relationships with the supernatural world but also func-
tional social relations within communities. According to Landa (1566),
virtually all rituals involved feasting and women were in charge of the prep-
aration of food and drink used as offerings and for consumption, as well as
providing offerings of cloth. Feasts and rituals were a visible and significant
means used by competing Maya elites to demonstrate their status (Joyce,
2000). As Srensen (2000: 106) notes, once the food is consumed in rituals
and feasts it is taken out of social circulation, and therefore takes on special
meaning that is also accentuated by the associated cultural items, e.g.
textiles. Female labour used to produce food and textiles was thus critical
to the success of ceremonies. Whether or not women were active partici-
pants does not belie the social, symbolic and political meaning of their
contribution.
There may have been temporal and/or regional differences in the degree
of female participation in ritual. According to Landa (1566), during the
Historic period only older women were allowed to participate in larger
temple ceremonies, but both men and women engaged in domestic ritual.
During earlier times, however, there is archaeological evidence for the
active participation of women in public rituals, e.g. depictions on figurines
of women dancing and holding bowls of food and bundles of cloth offer-
ings (Joyce, 1993).
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:08 am Page 361
The other side of the debate is the more hierarchical view that female
labour was exploited by men for the exercise of power (Pohl, 1991) and did
not create real influence in political decision making or authority. Pyburn
(2004) warns us that this perspective may be a bias of modern world systems
but Cohodas (2002) notes that arguments for female subordination can be
found in patriarchal political systems (McAnany, 1995; Restall, 1995;
Tourtellot, 1988), mortuary data (Haviland, 1997), agency resulting from
factionalism (Brumfiel, 1994), and the time-consuming, labour-intensity of
female production in the tribute system, which limited their ability to
exercise agency and political power (Pohl, 1991) (although the latter could
also be argued in favour of the complementarity model). The argument for
hierarchy can also be found in the conflict between biological and social
status indicators (Ardren, 2004), female expressions of resistance (Restall,
1995), and textual analysis of the Popul Vuh, a sacred Maya text that reflects
declining female power over time (Pia Chan, 2002). Although political and
economic power, as well as social and ideological systems, were steeped in
gender relations, status was negotiated differently over time and in differ-
ent contexts (Joyce, 2002; Gustafson and Trevelyan, 2002). For example,
both Brumfiel (1991) and Joyce (1992, 2002) have noted that female partici-
pation in ritual may have been restricted in the Post-Classic, but more open
in the Classic period. During the Historic period, ethnohistoric evidence
suggests that males occupied most positions of political and ritual power in
the sixteenth century (Joyce 2002; Landa, 1566).
Joyces (2002) argument that gendered status and power in Meosamer-
ica were variable by time and place is also consistent with the idea that the
gender system of any society cannot be simply slotted into the binary
categories of complementary versus hierarchical (Cohodas, 2002; Gero and
Scattolin, 2002). In addition to the potential general effect of culture change
on gender status, female negotiations of power at different social levels
were probably multivocal. Differences in food consumption behaviour
between males and females should also reflect this variability.
The stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen are expressed in per mil () as
-values using the formula:
= [(Rsample/Rstandard) 1] 1000
RESULTS
Pre-Classic period
Maize was well-established as the agricultural staple by Pre-Classic times.
Isotopic evidence from the inland site of Cahal Pech (Powis et al., 1999;
White et al., 1996) indicates that status differences were already expressed
in food consumption. Elites consumed imported marine/reef resources and
those who did the farming consumed the least amount of maize. Unfortu-
nately, poor preservation of skeletal elements used to determine sex
prohibits any comparison of male/female diets at this site.
The data presented here from both Cuello and Altun Ha are Pre-Classic
but cannot be assigned to Early, Middle or Late periods. Interpretations
must be taken with caution because there was a regional explosion in popu-
lation density that probably resulted in the intensification of maize produc-
tion and dietary change toward the end of the Pre-Classic. Tykot et al.
(1996) examined sex differences in maize consumption at Cuello, an agri-
cultural community in northern Belize comprised of relatively low status
individuals. Both sexes consumed the same kind of protein, i.e. mostly
terrestrial animals, but males consumed more C4 foods and were slightly
more carnivorous (see Table 1 and Figures 25). He suggests this difference
might be due to greater male consumption of C4-fed animals or maize-
based alcohol. Because the only alcoholic drink described ethnohistorically
was C3-based and alcohol consumption would not make them appear more
carnivorous, the former explanation is the more likely.
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:08 am Page 366
Table 1 Carbon and nitrogen isotope values by time period, site and sex
Pre-Classic
Altun Ha
males 3 13.2 1.9 8.6 0.3 4.6 1.7 11.1 0.3
females 3 12.6 2.1 8.0 2.2 4.6 0.4 10.1 1.0
Cuello1
males 15 12.8 0.9 9.8 1.3 3.0 8.8 0.9
females 11 13.2 0.9 9.8 0.9 3.4 8.8 0.9
Classic
Lamanai
males 11 14.2 1.6 7.0 1.3 6.4 2.8 10.3 1.1
females 2 13.0 3.3 6.0 0.4 8.3 1.2 10.0
Pacbitun
males 8 9.0 1.2 5.5 1.1 3.6 1.4 9.1 0.6
females 8 10.7 1.2 6.0 1.9 4.7 0.5 9.5 0.7
Late Classic
Altun Ha
males 3 12.3 0.5 9.2 1.2 3.1 0.8 10.5 0.5
females 7 13.4 1.1 9.1 1.0 4.3 1.1 10.0 0.3
Post-Classic
Lamanai
males 11 9.5 1.0 6.3 1.4 3.3 0.7 9.7 0.7
females 7 9.1 0.5 6.1 2.1 3.7 1.1 9.1 0.5
Altun Ha
males 2 10.6 6.8 2.2 10.4
females 3 14.6 7.8 3.9 10.2
San Pedro2
males 10 6.8 1.1 4.2 1.3 2.5 1.0 9.8 0.6
females 9 7.0 1.2 4.2 1.2 2.8 0.8 9.6 0.4
Marco Gonzalez2
males 9 6.7 0.9 6.5 0.7 1.4 0.9 10.9 0.7
females 13 8.1 1.0 6.4 1.2 1.8 0.8 10.0 1.0
Historic
Lamanai
males 6 9.9 1.3 5.7 0.2 3.8 0.8 9.7 0.3
females 5 9.8 0.3 5.2 0.8 4.6 1.0 9.7 0.8
1 Data from Tykot et al. (1996)
2 Data from Williams et al. (in press)
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:08 am Page 367
male
female
Altun Ha
(Pre-Classic)
(Late Classic)
(Post-Classic)
Cuello1
(Pre-Classic)
Lamanai
(Classic)
(Post-Classic)
(Historic)
Pacbitun
(Classic)
Marco
Gonzalez 2
(Post-Classic)
San Pedro 2
(Post-Classic)
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
13
Ccol (, VPDB)
Figure 2 Isotopic values for 13Ccol by sex (1data from Tykot et al., 1996;
2data from Williams et al., in press)
male
female
Altun Ha
(Pre-Classic)
(Late Classic)
(Post-Classic)
Cuello1
(Pre-Classic)*
Lamanai
(Classic)
(Post-Classic)
(Historic)
Pacbitun
(Classic)
Marco
Gonzalez 2
(Post-Classic)
San Pedro 2
(Post-Classic)*
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
13Cap (, VPDB)
Figure 3 Isotopic values for 13Cap by sex (*male and female values are
identical; 1data from Tykot et al., 1996; 2data from Williams et al., in press)
1990), and therefore may reflect the diet of a different, perhaps more
coastal, polity.
Classic period
Lamanai and Pacbitun both provided samples from elite contexts repre-
senting the Classic period. Although the production potential for maize was
very high (Lambert et al., 1984), the inhabitants of Lamanai are among the
least maize-dependent of any Classic period population yet analysed (Gerry
and Krueger, 1997; White et al., 2001a), possibly due to the remarkable
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:09 am Page 369
male
female
Altun Ha
(Pre-Classic)*
(Late Classic)
(Post-Classic)
Cuello1
(Pre-Classic)
Lamanai
(Classic)
(Post-Classic)
(Historic)
Pacbitun
(Classic)
Marco
Gonzalez 2
(Post-Classic)
San Pedro 2
(Post-Classic)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
13Cap-col
Figure 4 Isotopic values for 13Cap-col by sex (*male and female values are
identical; 1data from Tykot et al., 1996; 2data from Williams et al., in press)
male
female
Altun Ha
(Pre-Classic)
(Late Classic)
(Post-Classic)
Cuello1
(Pre-Classic)*
Lamanai
(Classic)
(Post-Classic)
(Historic)
Pacbitun
(Classic)
Marco
Gonzalez 2
(Post-Classic)
San Pedro2
(Post-Classic)
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
15
Ncol (, AIR)
Figure 5 Isotopic values for 15Ncol by sex (*male and female values are
identical; 1data from Tykot et al., 1996; 2data from Williams et al., in press)
Post-Classic period
The aftermath of the Classic period collapse was experienced differently by
the sites in this study. At Altun Ha the gap in sex differences in maize
consumption seen in the Late Classic period widened (Table 1, Figures 2, 3).
Although both sexes consumed more maize than in previous times, males
consumed even more, became increasingly more carnivorous (Table 1,
Figure 4) and consumed more C-4-fed animals (Table 1, Figures 3, 5).
At Lamanai, there is a significant drop in the consumption of maize for
both sexes (Table 1, Figures 2, 3), but the pattern of difference between the
sexes is still much the same as during the Classic period. Males were still
consuming slightly less maize (Table 1, Figures 2, 3), were more carnivorous
(Table 1, Figure 4) and accessed their protein from a slightly higher trophic
level (Table 1, Figure 5).
San Pedro and Marco Gonzalez are located on Ambergris Cay, off the
coast of northern Belize and close to the barrier reef. Marco Gonzalez was
probably a gateway community for Lamanai (Graham and Pendergast,
1989). Males at Marco Gonzalez consumed more C4 protein (Table 1,
Figure 2), were more carnivorous (Table 1, Figure 4) and consumed more
protein and from a higher trophic level (Table 1, Figure 5). In this case, the
protein sources probably came from the nearby C4-based marine-reef
because the 13Cap-col-values are exceptionally low.
By contrast, the small fishing village of San Pedro shows very few, if any,
gender differences in food consumption (Table 1, Figures 25).
Historic period
Historic period sites are rare because many were abandoned before the
arrival of the Spanish Conquest and few have been excavated. During this
period at Lamanai, there is a shift in the distribution of food by sex. There
is no longer any difference in maize consumption (Table 1, Figures 2, 3) or
protein source (Table 1, Figure 5). However, males were still more carniv-
orous (Table 1, Figure 4).
DISCUSSION
The data in this article support what Joyce (2000: 162) describes as the
mosaic quality of gendered status and power, where control of food and
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:09 am Page 372
(e.g. large fish or mammals rather than crustaceans). Higher trophic level
animals would only be accessed by hunting carnivores or accessing coastal
areas. Both carnivores (e.g. jaguars) and marine resources had great ideo-
logical significance among the Maya and were used in ritual (Moholy-
Nagy, 2004; Pohl, 1990). Therefore, the regular consumption of hunted
animals or marine resources by males might also support the interpret-
ation of greater male participation in ritual. How much captured food was
used for public ritual versus domestic consumption is unknown. Protein
resources captured for public ritual may also have been species-limited,
were not likely used for snacking in the wild and may not have been shared
with women, unlike those captured for domestic use (regular or ritual). It
is possible that female dietary protein came dominantly from resources
captured for domestic use.
Deer and dogs were commonly associated with ritual (Carr, 1985;
Clutton-Brock and Hammond, 1994; Pohl, 1983; Wing, 1978), and there is
isotopic evidence that those used for ritual and feasting were exclusively
fed maize from very early ages (White et al., 2001b, 2004). Considerable
investment must have been made in producing these animals. If this invest-
ment means that C4-fed animals were reserved mainly for ritual feasting,
then the greater quantities of C4-fed meat in male diets could indicate
greater male participation in ritual food consumption on a regular basis.
Proponents of gender complementarity would argue that the ritual
consumption of such ideologically important food by males was only made
possible through the female effort of creating it. For example, Hastorf
(1991) argues that the greater consumption of C4 foods by men in ancient
Peru is a result of ritual consumption of the maize-based alcoholic drink,
chicha, by males, and that the female labour used to produce chicha was an
important source of female status (Hastorf, 1991; Skar, 1981). An opposing
argument could be that if male consumption of these foods was exclusive,
the performance of consuming might have symbolically given males more
direct access to the supernatural, at least in terms of this aspect of the
ceremonialism. Such behaviour would be consistent with Clendinnens
(1982) view that hierarchic and complementary behaviour can be interwo-
ven in cultural practice. In this case, women could have been hierarchically
excluded from political and religious authority and some ritual practices,
even when subsistence and ritual labours and some ritual practices were
complementary.
It has been argued that elites exhibited more gender equality (Joyce,
1996, 1999) as well as less (Haviland, 1997). Because the samples used in
this study are dominated by elites (with the exception of San Pedro and
Cuello), it is not possible to test this hypothesis within sites. However, the
differential consumption of protein resources by sex among the elite
strongly suggests that males had greater access to socially valued and ideo-
logically based foods. While it is likely that elite females displayed status
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:09 am Page 374
CONCLUSION
Hastorf (1991: 133) states that gender is created from division of labour,
differential access, social negotiation, production and reproduction.
Archaeological, ethnohistoric and chemical lines of evidence for subsis-
tence and diet indicate that all of these behaviours are gendered among the
Maya, but expressed in different ways. Maya foods were highly imbued with
ideological meaning, symbolically consumed during ceremonial activities,
and also promoted social and political meaning for both men and women.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Maya women exercised agency and
power in the religious domain by controlling the food provided for cere-
monies, as well as in the economic domain through their control of food in
exchange networks and the payment of tribute. However, although further
testing will be needed, isotopic measures of food consumption suggest that
there were gender differences in diet, and that these were most pronounced
among elites. Lower order sites at both the earliest (Cuello) and latest (San
Pedro) stages of the civilization showed the weakest gender differences in
food consumption.
Dietary gender differences can be caused by variation in proximity to
certain foods during production or preparation, the use of food in the
identification of gender, or differential access related to social status.
Among elites, men were fairly consistently more carnivorous than women
and consumed more foods that might be considered ideologically import-
ant such as maize, maize-fed animals and marine/reef resources. Gendered
dietary differences vary by resource, time, and site location, which is consist-
ent with Joyces (2002) view that female status and power were unevenly
negotiated over time and place. The differences seem to have been broadly
distributed but are not dramatic. Their meaning is still unclear, but it is
argued that because elite males consumed more preferred foods, most of
which were used in rituals, elite women may not have participated in ritual
food consumption in the same way or to the same degree. While the produc-
tion of Maya ceremonies involved complementary gender participation,
female access to the products of their labour may have been more limited
and may even have resulted in less direct access to the supernatural. This
interpretation is consistent with the view that hierarchical behaviour can
still be embedded in complementary social systems.
The arrival of the Spanish seems to have brought an end to gender differ-
entiation by protein type, but males continued to consume more protein
than females in general. Whether this represents an underlying ideology of
preferential access for males, a conversion of public rituals to private, or the
assimilation of Spanish gender values requires further research.
03 057572 White (to_d) 19/9/05 10:09 am Page 376
Acknowledgements
I thank David Pendergast, Elizabeth Graham, Hermann Helmuth, Paul Healy, Jaime
Awe, and the Department of Archaeology, Belize, for access to these samples.
Samples were analysed in the isotope labs of Fred Longstaffe, The University of
Western Ontario, and Henry Schwarcz, McMaster University, who were involved in
various aspects of their isotopic interpretations in previous publications. I also thank
Robert Jackson and Karyn Olsen for the figures.
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