Acoustic Effects at Las Cuevas Cave (Western Belize): An Archaeoacoustic Analysis of a Maya Cave

Summary

The site of Las Cuevas (western Belize) has been identified as a mid-sized, Late Classic ceremonial and administrative center. Interestingly, given the importance of caves in Maya religion, the underneath part of the site has a large cave system. Research so far on this cave has focused on aspects that are common in cave archaeology: 1/ structures - in this case on the one hand the series of platforms built around a central, sunk cenote and on the other the walls subdiving the narrow part of cave into several distinct areas; 2/ pottery distribution in the different areas and platforms within the cave. Yet, in addition to the material remains within the cave, there are other aspects that are worth analysing. A decade ago Margaret Bruchez alluded in an excellent article that "subject to the precepts of science, archaeologists could collect the aural data as material artifacts, despite a previous regard of sounds as 'immaterial' " (Bruchez 2007: 48). The aim of this paper is to show the results of our archaeoacoustic analysis in the cave of Las Cuevas highlighting the acoustic effects that have been detected as the most relevant and their relationship to particular parts of the cave.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18839