Sacred Landscapes, Spaces, and Ritual Offerings as the Materialization of Environmental Narratives at the Site of Pacbitun, Belize

Summary

Material culture studies allow archaeologists to examine the social implications of the physical world in which people are embedded. Sacred landscapes, for example, inspire social narratives regarding how people should interact with the environment. Components of those landscapes, such as caves and mountains, become active participants in the establishment, maintenance, and mobilization of environmental narratives. They serve as hegemonic tools for conveying morality and proper behavior, and as such they are prone to appropriation by those in power. Using archaeological data from the Maya site of Pacbitun, this paper seeks to understand how materialized narratives are part of broader networks of power used to reinforce and challenge dominant hegemony. The presence of elite-sponsored constructions near caves act as overt manifestations of environmental narratives seeking to situate the community as a unified whole. Yet, studying ritually deposited offerings in Pacbitun’s caves reveals differences in ceremonial practice. These deposits inform about the day to day concerns of individuals, their socioeconomic status and differential access to power.

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): 21491