Excavations at the City of the Jaguar

Summary

The Mosquitia ecosystem of NE Honduras is a critical region for understanding past patterns of socio-political development and interaction between Mesoamerica and Central America. Caches of ground stone and other objects have long been noted for the region but have never before been systematically examined. Here we report on the recent partial excavation and consolidation of one of these deposits from the newly documented city of the Jaguar, Gracias a Dios, Honduras, constituting a deposit of several hundred stone, ceramic, and other objects. We find that 1) the objects were deposited in a single episode within a cleared ritual space, 2) objects were arranged into groups representing vulture, death, and were-jaguar motifs, 3) many objects were ritually broken, 4) ceramics and other materials placed on and around the central group may represent recurring veneration at this location. The Jaguar ofrenda represents an example of ritual behavior, sacred space, and material culture that may be related to the abandonment of the city sometime in the 16th century.

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): 21875