Exploring the Use of Red Ochre at Midnight Terror Cave, Belize

Summary

The earliest use of red pigment in mortuary contexts has been documented in Neanderthal burials during the Upper Palaeolithic period (50,000- 12,000 BCE) in Europe (Roper 1991). The use of red pigment for both mortuary and decorative practices has been identified in Mesoamerica as early as the Early Preclassic. These practices include the sprinkling or encasing of various artifacts such as shell or bone in either red ochre or cinnabar. Investigations at Midnight Terror Cave (MTC) carried out between 2008 and 2010 recovered nearly 10,000 human bones. Among these, 27 bone and bone fragments recovered from Lots V, VI, and VII, partially or fully covered in red pigment. The presence of pigment on such a limited number of bones suggests some type of special treatment. Deposits of skeletal material are co-mingled throughout the cave, so the analysis of these 27 bone fragments may reveal relationship between the movement and redeposition of bone along the documented ritual circuit in the cave. Exploring the use of red pigment in cave contexts becomes particularly interesting as caves are seen as important sacred landscape features which house the gods, are the source of rain, and places from which people first emerged into the world.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Recent Advances in the Archaeology of the Three Rivers Region of the Central Maya Lowlands

Keywords

Spatial Coverage