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Although Juicy Fruit(R) gum was introduced to North Americans in
1893, Native Americans in Mesoamerica were chewing gum thousands of
years earlier. And although in the last decade "biographies" have
been devoted to salt, spices, chocolate, coffee, and other staples
of modern life, until now there has never been a full history of
chewing gum.
"Chicle" is a history in four acts, all of them focused on the
sticky white substance that seeps from the sapodilla tree when its
bark is cut. First, Jennifer Mathews recounts the story of chicle
and its earliest-known adherents, the Maya and Aztecs. Second, with
the assistance of botanist Gillian Schultz, Mathews examines the
sapodilla tree itself, an extraordinarily hardy plant that is
native only to Mesoamerica and the Caribbean. Third, Mathews
presents the fascinating story of the chicle and chewing gum
industry over the last hundred plus years, a tale (like so many
twentieth-century tales) of greed, growth, and collapse. In
closing, Mathews considers the plight of the chicleros, the
"extractors" who often work by themselves tapping trees deep in the
forests, and how they have emerged as icons of local pop
culture--portrayed as fearless, hard-drinking brawlers, people to
be respected as well as feared.
Before Dentyne(R) and Chiclets(R), before bubble gum comic strips
and the Doublemint(R) twins, there was gum, oozing from jungle
trees like melting candle wax under the slash of a machete.
"Chicle" tells us everything that happened next. It is a
spellbinding story.
The flat, dry reaches of the northern Yucatan Peninsula have been
largely ignored by archaeologists drawn to the more illustrious
sites of the south. This book is the first volume to focus entirely
on the northern Maya lowlands, presenting a broad cross-section of
current research projects in the region by both established and
up-and-coming scholars. To address the heretofore unrecognized
importance of the northern lowlands in Maya prehistory, the
contributors cover key topics relevant to Maya studies: the
environmental and historical significance of the region, the
archaeology of both large and small sites, the development of
agriculture, resource management, ancient politics, and
long-distance interaction among sites. As a volume in the series
Native Peoples of the Americas, it adds a human dimension to
archaeological findings by incorporating modern ethnographic data.
By exploring various social and political levels of Maya society
through a broad expanse of time, Lifeways in the Northern Maya
Lowlands not only reconstructs a little-known past, it also
suggests the broad implications of archaeology for related studies
of tourism, household economies, and ethno-archaeology. It is a
benchmark work that pointedly demonstrates the need for researchers
in both north and south to ignore modern geographic boundaries in
their search for new ideas to further their understanding of the
ancient Maya.
Jade, stone tools, honey and wax, ceramics, rum, land. What gave
these commodities value in the Maya world, and how were those
values determined? What factors influenced the rise and fall of a
commodity's value? The Value of Things examines the social and
ritual value of commodities in Mesoamerica, providing a new and
dynamic temporal view of the roles of trade of commodities and
elite goods from the prehistoric Maya to the present. Editors
Jennifer P. Mathews and Thomas H. Guderjan begin the volume with a
review of the theoretical literature related to the "value of
things." Throughout the volume, well-known scholars offer chapters
that examine the value of specific commodities in a broad time
frame-from prehistoric, colonial, and historic times to the
present. Using cases from the Maya world on both the local level
and the macro-regional, contributors look at jade, agricultural
products (ancient and contemporary), stone tools, salt, cacao
(chocolate), honey and wax, henequen, sugarcane and rum, land,
ceramic (ancient and contemporary), and contemporary tourist
handicrafts. Each chapter author looks into what made their
specific commodity valuable to ancient, historic, and contemporary
peoples in the Maya region. Often a commodity's worth goes far
beyond its financial value; indeed, in some cases, it may not even
be viewed as something that can be sold. Other themes include the
rise and fall in commodity values based on perceived need, rarity
or overproduction, and change in available raw materials; the
domestic labor side of commodities, including daily life of the
laborers; and relationships between elites and non-elites in
production. Examining, explaining, and theorizing how people
ascribe value to what they trade, this scholarly volume provides a
rich look at local and regional Maya case studies through centuries
of time.
Mexico's southern state of Quintana Roo is often perceived by
archaeologists as a blank spot on the map of the Maya world, a
region generally assumed to hold little of interest thanks to its
relative isolation from the rest of Mexico. But salvage archaeology
required by recent development along the "Maya Riviera," along with
a suite of other ongoing and recent research projects, have shown
that the region was critical in connecting coastal and inland
zones, and it is now viewed as an important area in its own right
from Preclassic through post-contact times. The first volume
devoted to the archaeology of Quintana Roo, this book reveals a
long tradition of exploration and discovery in the region and an
increasingly rich recent history of study. Covering a time span
from the Formative period through the early twentieth century, it
offers a sampling of recent and ongoing research by Mexican, North
American, and European archaeologists. Each of the chapters helps
to integrate sites within and beyond the borders of the modern
state, inviting readers to consider Quintana Roo as part of an
interacting Maya world whose boundaries were entirely different
from today's. In taking in the range of the region, the authors
consider studies in the northern part of the state resulting from
modern development around Cancun; the mid-state sites of Muyil and
Yo'okop, both of which witnessed continual occupations from the
Middle Preclassic through the Postclassic; and new data from such
southern sites as Cerros, Lagartera, and Chichmuul. The
contributions consider such subjects as ceramic controversies,
settlement shifts, site planning strategies, epigraphic and
iconographic materials, the impact of recent coastal development,
and the interplay between ancient, historic, and modern use of the
region. Many of the chapters confirm the region as a cultural
corridor between Coba and the southern lowland centers and address
demographic shifts of the Terminal Classic through Postclassic
periods, while others help elucidate some of Peter Harrison's
Uaymil Survey work of the 1970s. "Quintana Roo Archaeology" unfolds
a rich archaeological record spanning 2,500 years, depicting the
depth and breadth of modern archaeological studies within the
state. It is an important touchstone for Maya and Mesoamerican
archaeologists, demonstrating the shifting web of connections
between Quintanarooense sites and their neighbors, and confirming
the need to integrate this region into a broader understanding of
the ancient Maya.
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