Cavetuns: Unexplored Theoretical Implications of a Discovery at Mul Ch’en Witz, La Milpa, Belize

Summary

In June of 2017, the Contested Caves Archaeological Project (CCAP), explored what was thought to be a partially capped chultun at the site of La Milpa, Belize. On entering, however, it became clear that the feature was actually a small, natural cave with a classic chultun-style entrance carved into it. Two of the cave’s three chambers contained small pools of water, which receded into the porous limestone, within days of their discovery. The pools make any possibility of storage infeasible particularly during the rainy season. Over the subterranean feature, the Maya constructed a rubble cored platform, identical to a platform constructed over another chultun at La Milpa. The cave – water association of this cavetun forces a consideration of the feature in terms of ancient Maya sacred landscape. The discovery of a hybrid cave-chultun further establishes a link between the two types of subterranean space.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21431