Women’s Dress in Ritual and Non-ritual Contexts

Author(s): Charles Cheek

Year: 2023

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Role of Women in Mesoamerican Ritual" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Dress is an important way people interact with others. Modern concepts of dress include the entire body and how people adorn or change it. Maya rituals use specific sets of dress elements to convey not only what is happening but also to ensure the ritual was done correctly. After a brief review of women’s dress, I identify dress in ritual and non-ritual contexts to identify what elements occurred in each. Some elements seem generalized for any ritual and others not. I also examine how the ritual affected women’s location in space at rituals and how politics affects that location. A case study at Yaxchilan looks at some changes over time as well.

Cite this Record

Women’s Dress in Ritual and Non-ritual Contexts. Charles Cheek. Presented at The 88th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2023 ( tDAR id: 473784)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -94.197; min lat: 16.004 ; max long: -86.682; max lat: 21.984 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35862.0