Archaeological Evidence in the Caves and Cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since prehistoric times, the caves of the Yucatán Peninsula have been the locus of regular visit by animals but as well by the first humans populating the continent. Thousands of years later, the Maya culture would establish its cities around the cenotes and the few bodies of surface water. The Maya culture has developed over the centuries methods for the control and storage of water, and a system of rituals related to the underworld, where the caves and cenotes were the main scenarios. For more than seven decades, these paleontological, archaeological, and historical contexts have been identified and recorded. In this lecture, we will summarize and analyze these investigations by contrasting the archaeological evidence diachronically and linking them to the successive changes in climate occurring in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Underwater and Coastal Archaeology in Latin America

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40172.0