The Ritual Requirements for Opening a Maya Cave

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Studies in Mesoamerican Subterranean Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 1966 a cave near Chichen Itza was reported to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) by Maya living in the area. The cave was investigated by Victor Segovia Pinto, after which the sinkhole entrance was filled with rocks. When archaeologists from the Gran Acuífero Maya opened the cave 52 years later, workers on the project demanded that a ritual be performed that would protect the workers and the entire archaeological crew. A mesa or altar was constructed at the site and offerings of atole, liquor, cigarettes, and honey were made. The ritual specialist purified the area by sprinkling liquor in the four cardinal directions surrounding the cave entrance. In the Maya lowlands, caves are ubiquitous features in the landscape. The ceremony described here reflects the fact that features like caves are deeply embedded in Maya cosmology and that the investigation of such features is considered to hold potential danger. Observations reported by the archaeologists were consistently seen as holding deep magico-religious significance by the Maya.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Studies in Mesoamerican Subterranean Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24352