Additionally, indigenous peoples show far less concern for whether the hole is of a natural or human origin. Recent reach continues to demonstrate that traditional caves are important landmarks in the landscape but, additionally, archaeologists have begun to show that many more features were marked by ancient peoples as having sacred significance. This session brings together fresh perspectives on the subject. Caves are prominent earth openings in Maya sites that are widely recognized as being important sacred landmarks.
There is a wide range of earth openings at sites, however, that are rarely recognized as possible landmarks and this can impact the interpretation of associated artifacts. Investigation in classified the feature as a trash pit. The recovery of large quantities of what were thought to be chert flakes led to the Analysis of construction techniques reveal that the modifications were made to conform to a purposefully crude aesthetic aimed at maintaining and enhancing the wilderness essence of the outcrop, while transforming it into a cultural space Natural and man-made caves are clearly attested to in myth, iconography and the glyphic corpus as powerful features for the ancient and contemporary Maya.
Caves are paramount for they function as entrances into the sacred earth, the most powerful entity of the sacred Maya universe. A third and less explicit category of these subterranean features, although extensively documented Brady ; Rivera Dorado ; Tate in the Maya area, are architectural caves.
This latter category, due to Cave explorers and scholars classify the different light zones of underground spaces into three categories — light, twilight, and dark.
Despite the practical challenges ancient people faced while traveling into and through dark zones those entirely devoid of light , it is common across the Maya region to find rich evidence that demonstrates that these spaces were heavily utilized during Precolumbian times.
Research conducted during the - field seasons of the Central Yucatan New evidence suggests the Maya of the Yucatan had a very complex social structure, distinctive religious practices, and unique technological innovations that made civilization possible in the harsh jungle.
This segment explores the significance of caves in ancient Mayan culture. Archaeologist Fatima Tec Poole investigates a cave in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico that was likely once an important site of Mayan pilgrimage and ritual.
Pottery sherds, layers of soot , and distinctive paintings indicate the division of a smaller, sacred space inside the larger public space of the cave. Throughout history and across cultures, people have designated certain places as sacred and have embarked on journeys to visit them. For example, Muslims try at least once in their lifetimes to make pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, birthplace of the prophet Mohammed.
For Christians and Jews, the city of Jerusalem, Israel, is an important pilgrimage site. For the Maya, certain caves were considered the holiest places on Earth, part of a mystical underworld outside of normal time and space.
Deities dwelled in these caves, and Mayan priests communed with them there. The cave studied by archaeologists in the film is divided into two distinct spaces. What are these two spaces? They used the soot and ash from torches and ritual fires that blackened the walls of the sacred space. They also found cave paintings and broken pottery. Archaeologists think the Maya believed caves were the dwelling places of the gods. Breaking the containers was supposed to release the power of the offering inside.
After breaking the pottery, worshippers would always take one piece with them. In what way is artwork in the caves significant to the Maya? In what way is art significant to us today? Some chapters are noteworthy for skillfully weaving together multiple lines of evidence in presenting deep historical accounts for specific sites. Tucker, and James E.
Brown Caves, Karst, and Settlement at Mayapain, Yucatan integrate archaeological information from caves with enthnohistoric documents to establish the importance of caves to particular research areas. The cave complex discussed by Aguilar et al. The authors argue that the complex was excavated as the site of Acatzingo Viejo was founded, and that it played a key role in how inhabitants viewed and even fashioned the cosmologically charged ritual space of their settlement.
Aguilar et al. While I found their presentation cogent, including some excavation data Use this link to get back to this page. Brady View PDF. Caves have been used as sacred spaces for thousands of years throughout the world. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Mesoamerica, where ethnography, ethnohistory, iconography, epigraphy, and archaeology have all contributed to our understanding of the meanings of these spaces for pre-Columbian societies.
Since caves in Mesoamerica were used almost exclusively for ritual, they provide an unrivaled context for studying pre-Columbian religion. The existence of a pan-Mesoamerican religion has long been noted by scholars. These ideological concepts have survived despite changing internal political structures and the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century AD. The tenacity of these shared ideas in Mesoamerican thought suggests that they form the ideological foundations of Mesoamerican culture.
These include ideas such as the integration of time and space, a four-sided universe with a fifth direction in the center, and the belief in a sacred and living natural landscape.
We argue that another fundamental Mesoamerican belief is that caves are sacred spaces that materialize cosmology. To understand the importance of caves we must appreciate how Mesoamerican cosmology differs fundamentally from our own.
For both ancient and modern indigenous peoples, the earth is a powerful force in the universe representing the nexus of all creation and destruction. It is both sacred and considered to be a living enmity.
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