Landa’s Auto de Fe and the Destruction of the “Idols” of Mani: Petrographic and Chemical Analysis from Mani, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 2015, an archaeological rescue program was carried out in Mani, Yucatán, related to improvements in the main square with the aim of designating Mani as a “magical town.” The excavations produced 568 fragments of the “idols” destroyed during the so-called auto de fe organized by Diego de Landa in Mani (1562), punishing the Maya population for continued pagan practices. This presentation offers details of this uniquely important historical event and provides an analysis for the first time of the archaeological evidence of what happened at Mani. Landa gathered the idols from the entire region (Yucatán); in fact, Scholes and Adams noted (1938) that he gathered both local idols and those from as far away as the Cobá region. The incensarios identified in the excavations are of the Late Postclassic and contact period type (AD 1000–1500) classified as Chen Mul modeled. Forty Chen Mul fragments were analyzed by INAA and petrographic analysis and the different chemical groups were compared to similar Postclassic pottery and clays from Mayapan, Santa Rita Corozal, Laguna de On, and the Peten Lakes region to determine the place of origin of the destroyed incensarios. The petrographic analysis will help test the historical hypothesis regarding the various incensarios collected.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37889.0