Ritual Use of the Rejolladas of Tahcabo, Yucatán

Summary

In Tahcabo, Yucatán, 5% of the town’s municipal land is contained within rejolladas. Rejolladas, like cenotes, are sinkholes formed in the karstic bedrock of Yucatán, although they do not reach to the level of the water table. They make for ideal gardens when located within settlements, as their low elevation allows for the collection of deep and moisture-rich soil that provides an advantage for the cultivation of almost any plant. At the nearby site of Kulubá it has also been shown that rejolladas share some of the same significance within Maya cosmology as cenotes and caves. Their locations, deeper into the earth, may have been seen as places with additional potential for communication with the underworld. Ceramic, botanical and faunal data from units excavated within five rejolladas in central Tahcabo demonstrate garden cultivation within the features over the community’s long history. One rejollada demonstrated consistent ritual use through time. Today it is a place in which the Ch’a’ Cháak ceremony is practiced, and in the deep past it was a place in which at least one human burial was interred. This paper will provide new evidence about the role of rejolladas and gardens more broadly in Maya worldview.

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): 20403