The Bioarchaeology of a Ceremonial Depository in the Petexbatun Area of Guatemala

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Black as Night, Dark as Death: Bioarchaeology of the Mesoamerican Subterranean" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Between 1990 and 1993, the Petexbatun Regional Cave Survey investigated more than 20 caves surrounding the site of Dos Pilas, with six caves producing substantial human skeletal assemblages. This presentation focuses on Cueva de los Quetzales, the only one of the six not directly associated with Dos Pilas. The cave, located 12 km to the southeast of Dos Pilas under the main plazas of Las Pacayas, features a conical mound formed beneath an opening in the cave’s ceiling from which offerings were dropped in from above. This feature is a type of ritual depository identified by J. Eric Thompson in his 1959 article “The Role of Caves in Maya Culture” based on examples first reported by the British Museum expedition to Pusilha in the 1920s. Forty-two bones were recovered in Cueva de Los Quetzales with thirty-seven recovered directly from the mound itself. Thirty-nine of the bones were analyzed at CSULA. The skeletal assemblage is interesting as it is composed almost exclusively of elements from the upper and lower limbs. The only axial skeletal elements are two parietal and temporal fragments. This presentation explores the osteological evidence suggesting protracted body treatment with certain skeletal elements being deposited into the cave below.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Black as Night, Dark as Death: Bioarchaeology of the Mesoamerican Subterranean

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52162