Speaker: Dr David Lentz
Title: "Recent Paleoethnoboticanical Studies at Ceren: the Central American Pompeii"
Summary: Late one afternoon in A..D. 590, the normal routine
of a small
hamlet in what is now western El Salvador was suddenly if not rudely
interrupted by the unexpected discharge of the Loma Caldera volcano,
just a
few miles to the north. The violent eruption caused the inhabitants
to
rapidly flee their homes, leaving most of their possessions behind
to be
covered by a 6-meter mantle of steamy ash. This disaster for the Cerén
populace has been a boon for archaeologists, especially those interested
in
ancient plant use practices, because the preservation at the site is
so
extraordinary. Among other things, Dr. Lentz discussed the remnants
of kitchen pantries, past meals, crowded storehouses, dooryard gardens,
domed sweat lodges and sacred
niches. Although the ethnic makeup of the people of Ceren is
unknown, the study of Ceren, on the periphery of the Maya area, may
shed light on the lives of Maya villagers as well. The meeting was
well attended, and followed by a vigorous discussion of this interesting
program.
Biographical information:
Education:
University of Alabama, Biology/Botany (Anthro minor), Ph.D., 1984.
Eastern New Mexico University, Anthropology, M.A., 1979.
Washington and Jefferson College, Biology and Sociology, B.A., 1973
Professional Experience:
DIRECTOR, Graduate Studies Program and ADJUNCT CURATOR, Institute of
Economic Botany, New York Botanical Garden. Paleoethnobotanical, ethnomedical
and ethnobotanical research projects, 1993-present.
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation,
Columbia University, 1996-present.
VISITING RESEARCH PROFESSOR, Department of Biology, New York University,
1996-present.
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, Plant Sciences Program, Lehman College, City University
of
New York, 1994-present.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ADJUNCT, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies,
Yale University, 1996-present.
External Grant Support:
1998-1999 Archeobotanical Investigations at the
Cerén Site, El Salvador, Heinz Family Foundation, $8,000.
1998-1999 Support for a Botany Graduate Student from Latin America,
Conservation, Food and Health Foundation, $10,000.
1998-1999 Food and Pharmacopoeia of the Ancient Maya: Paleoethnobotany
at
Cerén, National Geographic, $2,392. International, Principal
Investigator,
$2,000.
1991-1992 U.S. Information Agency (USIA),
Publication Enhancement Award,
Principal Investigator, $8,000.
1989-1991 National Science Foundation, EPSCoR Grant, Co-Principal
Investigator, $210,000.
1989-1990 Fulbright Research Award, Council for the International
Exchange
of Scholars, Principal Investigator, $30,000.
1986-l988 National Institutes of Health, NIDR, Research Grant,
Principal
Investigator, $2l,195.
Selected Publications:
Lentz, D.L. Botanical remains from the El Cajon area: Insights
into a
Prehistoric Dietary Pattern. In: Archaeological Research in the
El Cajon
Region, Vol. 1: Ecology and Chronology. Hirth, K.G., ed.,
pp. 187-206.
Univ. Pittsburgh Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology, No. 1, Pittsburgh,
PA
(1989).
Lentz, D.L. Acrocomia mexicana: Palm of the ancient Mesoamericans.
J.
Ethnobiology, 10(2): 183-194 (1990).
Lentz, D.L. Maya diets of the rich and poor: Paleoethnobotanical
evidence
from Copan. Latin American Antiquity 2(3): 269-287 (1991).
Lentz, D.L. Medicinal and other economic plants of the Paya of
Honduras.
Economic Botany 47(4): 358-370 (1993).
Lentz, D.L., M.L. Reyna de Aguilar, R. Villacorta, H. Marini.
Trachypogon
plumosus (Poaceae, Andropogoneae): Ancient thatch and more from the
Cerén
site, El Salvador. Economic Botany 50(1): 108-114 (1996).
Ramírez-Sosa, C.R., B.W. Griscom, D.L. Lentz. Investigaciones
paleoetnobotánicas del periodo formativo en el sitio de Yarumela,
Honduras.
Yaxkin 14: 74-94 (1996).
Lentz, D.L., M. Beaudry-Corbett, M.L. Reyna de Aguilar, L. Kaplan.
Foodstuffs, forests, fields and shelter: A
paleoethnobotanical analysis
of vessel contents from the Cerén site,
El Salvador. Latin American
Antiquity 7(3): 247-262 (1996).
Lentz, D.L., M. Bellengi. A brief history of the Graduate Studies
Program at
The New York Botanical Garden. Brittonia
48(3): 404-412 (1996).
Pohl, M.D., K.O. Pope, J.G. Jones, J.S. Jacob, D.R. Piperno, S.D. deFrance,
D.L. Lentz, J.A. Gifford, M.E. Danforth, J.K. Josserand. Early
agriculture
in the Maya Lowlands. Latin American Antiquity 7(4): 355-372 (1996).
Lentz, D.L., C.R. Ramirez, B.W. Griscom. Formative period subsistence
and
forest product extraction at the Yarumela site, Honduras. Ancient
Mesoamerica 8: 63-74 (1997).
Lentz, D.L., A.M. Clark, C.D. Hufford, B. Meurer-Grimes, C.L. Passreiter,
A.L. Okunade, J. Cordero, O. Ibrahimi. Antimicrobial properties
of Honduran
medicinal plants. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 63 (3): 253-263 (1998).
Lentz, D.L. Paleoethnobotanical remains from Coatlan del Rio.
In: Urban
Growth and State Formation at Xochicalco. Hirth, K.G., ed. University
of
Utah Press (1999). In press.
Lentz, D.L. Paleoethnobotany of the ancient Maya. In: Reconstructing
Ancient Maya Diets, White, C.D., ed. University of Utah Press
(1999). In
press.
Lentz, D.L. Cerén plant resources: Diversity and abundance.
In: The Cerén
Village and Loma Caldera Volcano, Sheets, P.D., ed. University
of Texas
Press (1999). In press.
Lentz, D.L., ed. Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformation in the
Precolumbian Americas. Columbia University Press, New York. In
press.