Mirador Mountain, Ritual Landscapes, and the Protohistoric Maya Community at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mirador Mountain, or Chak Aktun for contemporary Lacandon Maya, dominates the landscape at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. The mountain, which has a natural red stain on its east side, rises from an island. Late Preclassic Maya (ca. 200 BCE–200 CE) created temples, platforms, and plazas on the island Mountain for an Aztlán-like ritual landscape. Local Lacandon state that the mountain contains water and the Tulijá River, a major water course running to the Gulf Coast, originates at this lake. Past Maya pilgrims and migrants traveled along the river until they reached Mensabak to carry out rituals on the Mirador Mountain altepetl. Protohistoric Maya (ca. 1300–1700 CE) settlements then coalesced along the lakeshore with this water mountain becoming the center of community identity. These Maya undertook collective rituals at shrines on the mountain and nearby cliffs in the lake to build solidarity among the incoming populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33580