Papers by Venicia Slotten
Doctoral Dissertation, 2024
For thousands of years, people have successfully and continually occupied the landscape of Arenal... more For thousands of years, people have successfully and continually occupied the landscape of Arenal, Costa Rica despite the relatively frequent environmental catastrophes, especially volcanic eruptions of Arenal Volcano. By analyzing the experiences of the ancient Arenal populations when faced with environmental disasters, archaeology can assist in preparing and coping for similar threats we face on a worldwide scale today. Paleoethnobotanical data collected from domestic structures in the Arenal region demonstrate the plant-human interactions that occurred in this volcanically active landscape in northwestern Costa Rica. These data provides a diachronic perspective, with a view of the plant resources used by residents in the Tronadora phase house structure at G-995 La Chiripa (1616-1108 BCE) as well as the Late Arenal phase village at G164 Sitio Bolívar (430-540 CE). The macrobotanical data (seeds, fruits, geophytes, and wood charcoal) reveal a subsistence strategy that was dominated by a diverse assemblage of forest-based products as well as root crops supplemented by minimal agricultural foods such as maize, beans, and squash. Notable fruit trees in both of the assemblages include avocado (Persea), cacao (Theobroma), cashew (Anacardium occidentale), cherry or plum (Prunus), coyol (Acrocomia aculeata), guanabana or cherimoya (Annona), guava (Psidium), jocote (Spondias mombin), nance (Byrsonima), ramón (Brosimum), sapodilla (Manilkara), pejibaye (Bactris), and mamey (Pouteria). A diet which primarily relied on agroforestry practices and root-crop agriculture may have aided these ancient inhabitants in navigating their ever-changing landscape. This is because low-lying vegetation, especially agricultural fields would not have survived depositions of volcanic ash and tephra, whereas underground root crops and stands of forests with fruit trees would have remained available, providing a bank of food either within their local surroundings or neighboring regions. Such a subsistence regime provided these ancient peoples with the ability to maintain their daily routines with a sense of resilience to their environmental setting that often experiences extreme conditions.
Quaternary International, 2021
The Late Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén's extraordinary preservation caused by the Loma Ca... more The Late Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén's extraordinary preservation caused by the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption around 650 CE allows for a unique opportunity to understand what plant species ancient Mesoamerican farmers utilized in their daily lives for food consumption, medicinal applications, fuel, and construction purposes. While Cerén has unusually good preservation of earthen-made household structures, gardens, and extensive outfields growing maize, manioc, and numerous weedy species, this article will review the collection of anthracological remains recovered from excavations at the site since 1978. Wood charcoal recovered via flotation samples taken throughout the archaeological site reveal the surrounding ecosystems that Cerén villagers would have exploited to regularly obtain their wood resources. Additionally, various fruit trees were cultivated within the village center, as evidenced by limb, trunk and fruit impressions preserved as plaster casts. The data collected from the long history of archaeobotanical research at Cerén suggests that these ancient rural agriculturalists practiced sustainable land management strategies and incorporated a diverse assemblage of tree species into their daily practices. The ancient agriculturalists effectively coped with an ever-changing landscape and opportunistically established their settlement in a biodiverse setting that had plentiful resources from a range of ecosystems available for their daily needs.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
The Late Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén's extraordinary preservation by the Loma Caldera e... more The Late Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén's extraordinary preservation by the Loma Caldera eruption circa 660 CE allows for a unique opportunity to study ancient Mesoamerican landscape management and agricultural practices. Various fruit trees, annual and root crops, fiber producers and other useful plants were cultivated within the village center, creating productive house-lot gardens. Extensive agricultural outfields of maize, manioc, squash, common beans, and numerous weedy species also have been documented through intensive paleoethnobotanical recovery methods and demonstrate the practice of multi-cropped or polyculture farming during Prehispanic times. The assorted array of economically useful species reveals the diversity of foodstuffs readily accessible to the inhabitants on a daily basis that were not simply the annual crops planted within the outfields. The long history of paleoethnobotanical research at this exceptionally preserved site provides the opportunity to not only understand what plant species the ancient inhabitants of this village utilized in their daily lives but also how the villagers perceived, managed, and manipulated their landscape in order to ensure a diverse and nutritional diet.
Latin American Antiquity, 2015
Paleoethnobotanical research conducted during the 2013 field season at the Classic Maya archaeolo... more Paleoethnobotanical research conducted during the 2013 field season at the Classic Maya archaeological site Joya de Cerén in El Salvador focused on the analysis of plant remains found on the surface and associated features of a Late Classic period sacbe (causeway) that were well protected beneath tephra deposited by the volcanic eruption of Loma Caldera around AD 650. Plant remains were retrieved from the sacbe surface, adjacent drainage canals, and agricultural fields on either side of the sacbe. Because the plant remains found in association with this sacbe were well preserved, a rare occurrence in Mesoamerica, the data recovered from Cerén are quite significant to the study of Maya plant use activities as well as Maya causeways.
The project systematically collected 62 macrobotanical samples and 160 flotation samples processed in a water flotation tank. Through careful paleoethnobotanical analysis, more than 140,000 carbonized seeds, achenes, charcoal specimens, and other plant parts that were present on the cultural activity surfaces at Cerén when Loma Caldera erupted were recovered. Three main categories of plant remains emerged from the data: annual crops, weedy species, and tree species. Prominently represented in these samples are Spilanthes cf. acmella achenes, Zea mays cob fragments, Phaseolus sp. cotyledons, Amaranthaceae seeds, Fimbristylis dichotoma achenes, Mollugo verticillata seeds, Portulaca oleracea seeds, Crotalaria cf. sagittalis seeds, Physalis angulata seeds, and abundant charcoal remains. Recovered plant remains reveal trends associated with each cultural context as well as distance from the site center, and offer an essentially economic perspective of Maya sacbeob. The study reveals that the ancient sacbe supplied an easy, dry, and efficient mode of transportation of goods among Cerén’s agricultural fields.
Reports by Venicia Slotten
McCown Archaeobotany Laboratory Reports, 2019
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Papers by Venicia Slotten
The project systematically collected 62 macrobotanical samples and 160 flotation samples processed in a water flotation tank. Through careful paleoethnobotanical analysis, more than 140,000 carbonized seeds, achenes, charcoal specimens, and other plant parts that were present on the cultural activity surfaces at Cerén when Loma Caldera erupted were recovered. Three main categories of plant remains emerged from the data: annual crops, weedy species, and tree species. Prominently represented in these samples are Spilanthes cf. acmella achenes, Zea mays cob fragments, Phaseolus sp. cotyledons, Amaranthaceae seeds, Fimbristylis dichotoma achenes, Mollugo verticillata seeds, Portulaca oleracea seeds, Crotalaria cf. sagittalis seeds, Physalis angulata seeds, and abundant charcoal remains. Recovered plant remains reveal trends associated with each cultural context as well as distance from the site center, and offer an essentially economic perspective of Maya sacbeob. The study reveals that the ancient sacbe supplied an easy, dry, and efficient mode of transportation of goods among Cerén’s agricultural fields.
Reports by Venicia Slotten
The project systematically collected 62 macrobotanical samples and 160 flotation samples processed in a water flotation tank. Through careful paleoethnobotanical analysis, more than 140,000 carbonized seeds, achenes, charcoal specimens, and other plant parts that were present on the cultural activity surfaces at Cerén when Loma Caldera erupted were recovered. Three main categories of plant remains emerged from the data: annual crops, weedy species, and tree species. Prominently represented in these samples are Spilanthes cf. acmella achenes, Zea mays cob fragments, Phaseolus sp. cotyledons, Amaranthaceae seeds, Fimbristylis dichotoma achenes, Mollugo verticillata seeds, Portulaca oleracea seeds, Crotalaria cf. sagittalis seeds, Physalis angulata seeds, and abundant charcoal remains. Recovered plant remains reveal trends associated with each cultural context as well as distance from the site center, and offer an essentially economic perspective of Maya sacbeob. The study reveals that the ancient sacbe supplied an easy, dry, and efficient mode of transportation of goods among Cerén’s agricultural fields.