Feeding the Mountain: Plant Remains from Ritual Contexts On and Around Structure M13-1 at El Perú-Waka’

Summary

Structure M13-1, a major civic-ceremonial building at the center of the Classic Maya city El Perú-Waka’ in northwestern Petén, Guatemala, held special significance to its citizenry. While it was likely ritually significant since the Early Classic period, evidence indicates it was the focus of sustained and repeated ceremonial acts of likely varying scales, accouterment, and practitioners throughout the Late and Terminal Classic periods (circa A.D. 600-900). In this paper, we explore data from recent paleoethnobotanical analyses pertaining to numerous archaeologically documented contexts revealing that plant remains were among the offerings in various of these ritualized contexts. The contexts in question date to the Late Classic period and include a subterranean chamber, a fire shrine, and the tomb of the Late Classic Queen Lady K’abel. Even after El Peruú-Waka’s royal court declined in the early 9th century A.D., Wakeños continued to ritually engage Structure M13-1, blanketing the structure in a variety of offerings ranging from gargantuan stelae fragments to now nearly imperceptible plant remains. Paleoethnobotanical evidence, in conjunction with other archaeological data, provides key information regarding ancient ritual practices in the Maya region, in this case shedding light on how the Maya metaphorically fed this particular structure.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Use of Plants in Ancient Rituals: New Perspectives from Paleoethnobotany   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15570