Earliest-Known Maya Salt Works Discovered in Belize

Jay-yi Nah is an underwater archaeological site dating to the Early Classic Maya period (250-600 CE) that focused on salt production for local use or perhaps local production for down-the-line trading.

The diet of the Maya civilization focused primarily on corn, beans, squash and other salt-deficient plant foods, and individual diets were supplemented with manufactured salt.

Fieldwork at the Paynes Creek Salt Works in southern Belize indicates that coastal Maya households produced surplus salt in the Classic period (250-900 CE), constructing dedicated salt kitchens and separate residences.

“Most of the salt works along the coast of Belize date to the Late Classic period (650-800 CE), corresponding with a time of population growth in the southern Maya lowlands,” said Louisiana State University’s Professor Heather McKillop and Dr. Elizabeth Sills from the University of Texas.

“These include salt works at Northern River Lagoon, Wits Cah Ak’al, Marco Gonzalez and other sites on Ambergris Cay, Moho Cay, Colson Point, Placencia Lagoon and the Paynes Creek Salt Works.”

“Large-scale salt production seems to have ended by the Terminal Classic period (800-900 CE), and perhaps earlier at Marco Gonzalez, when much of the southern Maya lowlands was abandoned and there is a marked increase in circum-peninsular trade, including exotics wares such as Fine Orange, Plumbate, Yucatan slate and other pottery evident from Marco Gonzalez and Wild Cane Cay in particular.”

In 2023, the archaeologists discovered a new salt works site, called Jay-yi Nah, which curiously lacked the broken pots so common at other salt works, while a few pottery sherds were found.

“These resembled sherds from the nearby island site of Wild Cane Cay, which I had previously excavated,” Professor McKillop said.

“So, I suggested to Dr. Sills that we survey Jay-yi Nah again for posts and sea floor artifacts.”

The artifacts the researchers found contrasted with those from other nearby underwater sites, which had imported pottery, obsidian, and high-quality chert, or flint.

“At first, this was perplexing. But a radiocarbon date on a post we’d found at Jay-yi Na provided an Early Classic date, 250-600 CE, and solved the mystery,” Professor McKillop said.

Jay-yi Nah turned out to be much older than the other underwater sites.

Through their findings, the scientists learned Jay-yi Nah had developed as a local enterprise, without the outside trade connections that developed later during the Late Classic period, when the inland Maya population reached its peak with a high demand for salt — a basic biological necessity in short supply in the inland cities.

Jay-yi Nah had started as a small salt-making site, with ties to the nearby community on Wild Cane Cay that also made salt during the Early Classic period.

Abundant fish bones preserved in anaerobic deposits at Wild Cane Cay suggest some salt was made there for salting fish for later consumption or trade.

“Distinctive large bowls with incurved walls and necked jars with grooved lips were associated with an Early Classic pole and thatch salt kitchen, but the vessel supports and trade goods characteristic of later salt work sites were absent,” the authors said.

“These artifactual differences allow for a consideration of technological changes in coastal salt production and the widening of trade networks as inland demand for salt increased in the Late Classic period.”

“Despite the challenges of archaeology in shallow underwater sites, research at Jay-yi Nah underscores the value of excavating in mangrove peat below the sea floor where preserved wooden architecture precisely dates and provides context to ancient practices of commodity production — in this case, salt.”

The findings appear in the journal Antiquity.

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Heather McKillop & E. Cory Sills. Earliest Ancient Maya salt production in southern Belize: excavations at Jay-yi Nah. Antiquity, published November 6, 2024; doi: 10.15184/aqy.2024.186