Tree Resin in Mesoamerican Religion: Blurring Ontological Boundaries in Ceremony and Beyond

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Beyond Maize and Cacao: Reflections on Visual and Textual Representation and Archaeological Evidence of Other Plants in Precolumbian Mesoamerica" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Copalli (copal) is an aromatic tree resin and a central figure in Mesoamerican ceremonies. Produced from various species of the Bursera genus, copalli is understood as the blood of trees and can be molded into figures or burned into thick clouds of smoke. Copalli is also portrayed as a food substance to be consumed by deities or a medicinal plant for human healing practices. At the Huey Teocalli (Templo Mayor) copalli is one of the most abundant materials in Mexica offering caches. In the Yucatán, hundreds of ceramic vessels of incense offerings were dredged from Chen K’u (Cenote Sagrado), pointing to the powerful presence of pom at Chichén Itzá during the Postclassic period. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this paper examines copalli and related materials (incense burners, altars, pictorial representations, etc.) to better understand the ecosystem of Mesoamerican religion. Specifically, I argue that the ritual consumption of copalli by humans, deities, fire, and water reveals its simultaneous durability and ephemerality while blurring ontological boundaries between plants, food, smoke, and blood. Attention to the presence of this resin in the archaeological record combined with analysis of divinatory codices offers insights into the nature of human and other-than-human relationships in Mesoamerica.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Beyond Maize and Cacao: Reflections on Visual and Textual Representation and Archaeological Evidence of Other Plants in Precolumbian Mesoamerica   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39867.0