Ancient Mayans knew business?

Chemical analysis of soil samples in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula shows that contrary to the judgment of archaeologists, the ancient Mayans used to trade food.

According to Bruce Dahlin, an archaeologist at the University of Shepherd and head of the geological research in Yucatan, archaeologists have found that the population of ancient Mayan cities exceeded the supply of farm produce. the same industry through surveying the locations of these cities.

Therefore, for many years, scientists focused on gathering evidence of a well-developed agriculture to supply people. Suppose the ancient Mayans bought food and other goods rejected by scientists that Maya officials were paid with goods by rank and social status.

(Artwork: MSN) However, large residential areas from the Classic era (300 to 900 AD) are likely to be commodity trading areas, but scientists cannot be confirmed. make sure its role. Today, soil sample chemical analyzes have shed light on this hypothesis.

Dahlin and the team of environmental scientist Richard Terry, of Brigham Young University, analyzed soil samples in the Chunchucmil area of ​​western Yucatan to find traces of food.They discovered the phosphorus compound in the soil during the process of food decomposition .

Terry said: 'Food contains phosphorus. When people bring food to where they live, organic matter decomposes but phosphorus still binds to soil particles and never gets washed away even in the tropical rainforest. '

Terry and his team found that the amount of phosphorus in this area is 40 times higher than other areas such as home yards and streets. This phosphorus content is similar to the content in the market today, which is placed directly on the ground, not the tiled markets.

This finding shows that the ancient Mayans developed a market economy and scientists were studying other areas to understand the scale of this economy. The results of this study are published in the Latin American Antiquity magazine.