Functional Flesh: A Consideration of Bodily Loci in Classic Maya Bloodletting Practices

Summary

Bloodletting is generally accepted as a pan-mesoamerican practice, varying both in ideology and process. The Classic Maya drew blood from two specific areas: men most commonly let blood from their genitals while women more often let blood from their tongue or cheeks. Previous research into the choice of oral and genital perforation for non­permanent piercing includes little­ investigated functional qualities, which may have been a key factor for locus choice. I argue that the functionality of these areas was a potentially decisive factor for bloodletting practices by examining vascularity, susceptibility to infection, propensity for hypertrophic scar tissue build-up, and rate of cellular regeneration in order to contrast tongue and genital non-permanent perforation against the viability of other potential perforation sites. The evidence suggests that the chosen locales provide marked physiological advantages and were neither purely ritual nor incidental in their selection.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

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