Entering Chahk’s Realm: Ancient Cave Use and Ritually Deposited Speleothems in Postclassic Architecture at Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Subterranean" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

As rainwater seeps into caves over millions of years, it creates calcium carbonate formations known as speleothems. Ancient Maya peoples associated speleothems with the Earth Monster’s fangs, the Serpent Deity, and caves from which Chahk, the rain god, brings rain. As such, speleothems are animate embodiments of fertility and ritually pure water called zuhuy ha. In 2022, the Punta Laguna Archaeological project found twelve speleothems associated with a miniature masonry shrine at the site of Punta Laguna in Yucatan, Mexico. This paper presents the findings of the subsequent 2023 cave survey and mapping project. Additionally, the authors note three benefits of combining surface settlement and adjacent cave data to provide a more holistic understanding of ancient Maya peoples. Caves provide insight into the preliminary steps necessary for some surface rituals to occur. The transportation of speleothems between caves and built environments questions the traditional Western binaries that distinguish between natural and constructed landscapes. Lastly, a comparison of surface and subsurface activities suggests that the life force, or ku in Yucatec Mayan, of caves was dynamic and could both animate new spaces and create artificial caves within surface settlements.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Subterranean   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38868.0