Ritual Cave Utilization in the Middle Usumacinta Region: Socio-political Implications of Ritual Cave Use at the Maya Residential Sites Associated with Piedras Negras

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In this paper, I will examine the significance of ritual cave use in the emergence and development of Classic Maya polities. Caves are critical settings to understand the diversity of ritual practices and the involvement of such contexts within socio-political systems. My work in caves in the Middle Usumacinta Valley will further our understanding of ritual as a powerful venue to negotiate political power between Piedras Negras and its subsidiary minor centers while conflicts were ongoing with neighboring Yaxchilán during the Classic period (A.D. 250–900). In the summer of 2022, I conducted a field season in Nueva Esperanza Progresista in Chiapas, Mexico. Fourteen caves were mapped and recorded near the secondary center of Budsilhá which was administered by Piedras Negras. My preliminary observations of cave contexts from outlying areas of Piedras Negras and near its secondary centers suggest notable differences in the performance of local practices inside these caves as attested by the presence of rock paintings, and unslipped and decorated ceramics. By diachronically investigating cave sites, and by tracing differences in ritual practices, I hope to understand how ritual cave use shaped socio-political organization and power dynamics between mid-level groups and major polities in Classic Maya society.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39913.0