Ancestor Veneration, Termination and Renewal: New Considerations of Construction Fill

Summary

Archaeologists working in Mesoamerica frequently encounter construction fill within architecture. Construction fill has been variously used as a tool for determining architectural construction sequences, as a resource for seriation dating, and occasionally as a context for radiocarbon deposits. Although much information can be gleaned from examining construction fill, material culture found within such fill is frequently mentioned in passing as little more than refuse, if it is mentioned at all. This paper examines the phenomenon of material culture used in Formative Period construction fill at the site of Cahal Pech, Cayo, Belize and posits that the specific articles of material culture found within construction fill at Cahal Pech may not have been simply refuse but rather a special and highly significant form of ancestor veneration combining termination and renewal rituals to aid in the construction of new buildings.

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): 20310