Primary or Secondary Deposition: Midnight Terror Cave Operation V
Author(s): Michael Prout
Year: 2018
Summary
Two chambers in Midnight Terror Cave, Belize show undeniable evidence of Maya child sacrifice. Operation V and Operation VIII are the deepest darkest chambers of the cave where some of the most important of ancient Maya rites were performed including human sacrifice. In 2009 Ann Scott proposed that sacrifices occurred in Operation VIII and, during ritual cleaning of this public space in preparation for a new ceremony, the bones were taken from their primary deposition site and moved to Operation V. This paper analyzes the presence of small hand and foot bones in each chamber to determine primary or secondary deposition. The data agree with Scott’s secondary deposition model.
Cite this Record
Primary or Secondary Deposition: Midnight Terror Cave Operation V. Michael Prout. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 445283)
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Keywords
General
Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis
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Maya: Classic
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primary deposition
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Ritual and Symbolism
Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica: Maya lowlands
Spatial Coverage
min long: -94.197; min lat: 16.004 ; max long: -86.682; max lat: 21.984 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 21086