The Reemergence of Balamku as a First Order Sacred Landmark at Chichen Itza

Summary

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

During the 2018 season, the Gran Aquífero Maya project began exploration of the cave of Balamku, located some 2.4 km east of Chichen Itza's site center. The cave is noteworthy in containing incensarios, manos and metates, and other artifacts identical to those in the back passage of Balankanche, only in greater numbers. The similarity does not end there. Balamku, like Balankanche, was elaborated by a substantial amount of surface architecture and both were connected to the site core through sacbeob. When one considers the Osario complex, the many cenotes, and the huge number of sascaberas converted into caves, it is clear that the site is integrated into the subterranean to an extent heretofore unappreciated.

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): 25396