The Importance of Different Ontologies for Heritage Conservation in the Maya Area

Summary

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

Heritage conservation has as one of its main objectives, the recovery of specific values defined on many occasions by restorers and trained professionals. However, these values might not be the same for everyone. How can restorers incorporate the different ontologies regarding heritage in their conservation treatments and policies? Through a case study of a Maya indigenous community in the State of Chiapas, the meanings and values of two different kinds of heritage are studied. The community of Francisco Sarabia worships on the one hand, a Catholic canvas painting from the XVIIIth Century depicting the “Virgen Corazón de María”; on the second hand, the Postclassic archaeological site of Tenam Puente gets intertwined with the Catholic religion and their Maya cosmovision, playing a relevant role in the agricultural cycle, being the Acropolis of the archaeological site the destination of a pilgrimage carried out once a year by the community to honour the “Virgen”. Through an ethnographic approach, the different ontologies related to this patrimony are unveiled, serving as a starting point to better understand the role of the restoration processes and the possibility of creating more inclusive conservation policies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40333.0