Cycles of Time and Body Partibility at the Ancient Maya Site of Chan Chich, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Embodied Essence: Anthropological, Historical, and Archaeological Perspectives on the Use of Body Parts and Bodily Substances in Religious Beliefs and Practices" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The archaeological record of the ancient Maya reveals many examples of the living returning to human interments to exhume skeletal elements, expose the elements to fire or smoke, or to paint them with red pigment. At the ancient Maya city of Chan Chich, located in northwest Belize, skeletal remains dating to the Preclassic period (413–235 BC) show evidence of manipulation and possibly burning; charcoal from the burning event dates to AD 600–800, or the Late Classic period. Bones of the feet and lower body are articulated, suggesting a primary interment with at least one reentry event many centuries later. The partibility of ancient Maya bodies is well established as one facet of ancestor veneration (Geller 2012). I follow Geller and Strathern (2005) in considering the body as indicative of the collective rather than the individual. One interpretation of ancient Maya ancestral contexts is that this individual was chosen to venerate for actions in life or their relation to the still living, but many centuries of time between events requires additional reflection. In this contribution, the timing of the initial burial and timing of subsequent reentry are contextualized within the history of the site to understand the act of veneration.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Embodied Essence: Anthropological, Historical, and Archaeological Perspectives on the Use of Body Parts and Bodily Substances in Religious Beliefs and Practices   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39567.0