Download or read book Exploring Maya Ritual Caves written by Stanislav Chládek and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2011 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring Maya Ritual Caves offers a rare survey and explication of most of the known ancient Maya ritual caves in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. The caves were the Maya underworld, where rituals, including animal and human sacrifice, were carried out. The Maya cave cult and mythology, construction and modification of the caves, and cult art and artifacts are discussed. Chládek, an intrepid explorer, then describes important caves that he has recently visited and provides photos of their wonders.
Download or read book Exploring Maya Ritual Fauna written by Elyse M. Anderson and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: The ritual use of caves and associated landscape features has garnered increased archaeological attention. The thorough examination of cave faunal assemblages, however, is still relatively rare. These deposits are often deemed "problematical" due to the difficulty in interpreting the presence of animal skeletal remains in cave contexts. New ethnozoological research by Linda Brown and Kitty Emery (2008) suggests that the key to understanding these cave deposits can be found in contemporary hunting ritual practices. Linda Brown (2005, 2006) has documented the practice of hunting ceremonialism among modern Maya hunters in the Guatemalan highlands. These practices involve the ritual caching of animal skeletal remains at sacred landscape features such as caves, rock shelters, and rock outcrops. Using the material signature of hunting ceremonialism developed by Brown and Emery (2008), this study tests the connection between archaeological caves deposits and hunting ceremonialism. This analysis examines in detail the zooarchaeological, spatial, and material characteristics of faunal assemblages from nine cave sites: Cueva de los Quetzales, Cueva de Rio Murcielagos, Aguateca Grieta, Naj Tunich, Eduardo Quiroz, Actun Balam, Actun Polbilche, Stela Cave, and Caves Branch Rockshelter. As part of a larger discussion, this study also analyzes the validity of previous studies that have attempted to identify pan-Maya ritual practices involving the deposition of faunal remains in cave contexts. This study challenges the idea of pan-Maya ritual practices and calls for a more in-depth, site-specific analysis of Maya ritual practices.
Download or read book Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Ancient Maya Underworld written by Shawn Gregory Morton and published by British Archaeological Reports Oxford Limited. This book was released on 2018 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Asintegrated and varied ritual contexts, how do changing patterns ofpre-Columbian cave use inform the complex of historical, social, political,economic and related ideological processes in action during the inception,florescence, and collapse of Tipan Chen Uitz and other ancient Maya centres inCentral Belize? This book aims to highlight and, within a specific regionalcontext, to address, the tendency of the speleoarchaeology of the Maya area toisolate itself from broader topics of discourse. To this end, it explicitlycontextualizes primary research in several caves along a chain of relatedconcepts and datasets, extending from the broad body of literature on ritualand religion, through discussion of the conceptual cave context drawn fromepigraphic and iconographic sources, and its invocation as recorded incontemporary (or, at least, relatively recent) ethnographic contexts andearlier post-Columbian indigenous historic sources, to the well-travelled pathsof the archaeological study of caves.
Download or read book Exploring Highland Maya Ritual Cave Use written by James Edward Brady and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book In the Maw of the Earth Monster written by James E. Brady and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As portals to the supernatural realm that creates and animates the universe, caves have always been held sacred by the peoples of Mesoamerica. From ancient times to the present, Mesoamericans have made pilgrimages to caves for ceremonies ranging from rituals of passage to petitions for rain and a plentiful harvest. So important were caves to the pre-Hispanic peoples that they are mentioned in Maya hieroglyphic writing and portrayed in the Central Mexican and Oaxacan pictorial codices. Many ancient settlements were located in proximity to caves. This volume gathers papers from twenty prominent Mesoamerican archaeologists, linguists, and ethnographers to present a state-of-the-art survey of ritual cave use in Mesoamerica from Pre-Columbian times to the present. Organized geographically, the book examines cave use in Central Mexico, Oaxaca, and the Maya region. Some reports present detailed site studies, while others offer new theoretical understandings of cave rituals. As a whole, the collection validates cave study as the cutting edge of scientific investigation of indigenous ritual and belief. It confirms that the indigenous religious system of Mesoamerica was and still is much more terrestrially focused that has been generally appreciated.
Download or read book Stone Houses and Earth Lords written by Keith M. Prufer and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2021-05-03 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stone Houses and Earth Lords is the first volume dedicated exclusively to the use of caves in the Maya Lowlands, covering primarily Classic Period archaeology from A.D. 100 through the Spaniards' arrival. Although the caves that riddled the lowlands show no signs of habitation, most contain evidence of human use - evidence that suggests that they functioned as ritual spaces.
Download or read book Stone Houses and Earth Lords written by Keith M. Prufer and published by . This book was released on 2005-11-25 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stone Houses and Earth Lords is the first volume dedicated exclusively to the use of caves in the Maya Lowlands, covering primarily Classic Period archaeology from A.D. 100 through the Spaniards' arrival. Although the caves that riddled the lowlands show no signs of habitation, most contain evidence of human use - evidence that suggests that they functioned as ritual spaces.
Download or read book Ancient Maya Ritual Cave Use in the Sibun Valley Belize written by Polly Ann Peterson and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 690 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Food Fire and Fragrance written by Christopher T. Morehart and published by BAR International Series. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study draws on the underexploited resource of archaeobotany to add to our knowledge of Mayan cave ritual.
Download or read book Maya Pilgrimage to Ritual Landscapes written by Joel W. Palka and published by UNM Press. This book was released on 2014-06-15 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pilgrimage to ritually significant places is a part of daily life in the Maya world. These journeys involve important social and practical concerns, such as the maintenance of food sources and world order. Frequent pilgrimages to ceremonial hills to pay offerings to spiritual forces for good harvests, for instance, are just as necessary for farming as planting fields. Why has Maya pilgrimage to ritual landscapes prevailed from the distant past and why are journeys to ritual landscapes important in Maya religion? How can archaeologists recognize Maya pilgrimage, and how does it compare to similar behavior at ritual landscapes around the world? The author addresses these questions and others through cross-cultural comparisons, archaeological data, and ethnographic insights.
Download or read book The Ch ol Maya of Chiapas written by Karen Bassie-Sweet and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2015-04-08 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ch’ol Maya who live in the western Mexican state of Chiapas are direct descendants of the Maya of the Classic period. Exploring their history and culture, volume editor Karen Bassie-Sweet and the other authors assembled here uncover clear continuity between contemporary Maya rituals and beliefs and their ancient counterparts. With evocative and thoughtful essays by leading scholars of Maya culture, The Ch’ol Maya of Chiapas, the first collection to focus fully on the Ch’ol Maya, takes readers deep into ancient caves and reveals new dimensions of Ch’ol cosmology. In contemporary Ch’ol culture the contributors find a wealth of historical material that they then interweave with archaeological data to yield surprising and illuminating insights. The colonial and twentieth-century descendants of the Postclassic period Ch’ol and Lacandon Ch’ol, for instance, provide a window on the history and conquest of the early Maya. Several authors examine Early Classic paintings in the Ch’ol ritual cave known as Jolja that document ancient cave ceremonies not unlike Ch’ol rituals performed today, such as petitioning a cave-dwelling mountain spirit for health, rain, and abundant harvests. Other essays investigate deities identified with caves, mountains, lightning, and meteors to trace the continuity of ancient Maya beliefs through the centuries, in particular the ancient origin of contemporary rituals centering on the Ch’ol mountain deity Don Juan. An appendix containing three Ch’ol folktales and their English translations rounds out the volume. Charting paths literal and figurative to earlier trade routes, pre-Columbian sites, and ancient rituals and beliefs, The Ch’ol Maya of Chiapas opens a fresh, richly informed perspective on Maya culture as it has evolved and endured over the ages.
Download or read book Ancient Maya Ritual Cave Utilization written by Christopher T. Morehart and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 804 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Heart of Earth written by Reiko Ishihara and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An Investigation of Maya Ritual Cave Use with Special Reference to Naj Tunich Pet n Guatemala written by James Edward Brady and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 956 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Comit n Valley written by Caitlin C. Earley and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2023-07-13 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thousand years ago, the Comitán Valley, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, was the western edge of the Maya world. Far from the famous power centers of the Classic period, the valley has been neglected even by specialists. Here, Caitlin C. Earley offers the first comprehensive study of sculpture excavated from the area, showcasing the sophistication and cultural vigor of a region that has largely been ignored. Supported by the rulers of the valley’s cities, local artists created inventive works that served to construct civic identities. In their depictions of warrior kings, ballgames, rituals, and ancestors, the artists of Comitán made choices that reflected political and religious goals and distinguished the artistic production of the Comitán Valley from that of other Maya locales. After the Maya abandoned their powerful lowland centers, those in Comitán were maintained, a distinction from which Earley draws new insights concerning the Maya collapse. Richly illustrated with never-before-published photographs of sculptures unearthed from key archaeological sites, The Comitán Valley is an illuminating work of art historical recovery and interpretation.
Download or read book New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society written by Vera Tiesler and published by Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. This book was released on 2007-03-14 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lavishly-illustrated book brings together archaeologists as well as anthropologists, forensic anthropologists, art historians and bioarchaeologists for a wider exploration into Mayan sacrifice and related posthumous body manipulation.
Download or read book The Gift in the Cave for the Gift of the World written by Jon Spenard and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ABSTRACT: This thesis presents the results of a regional cave survey in the San Francisco Hills near the lowland Maya site of Cancuén, Petén, Guatemala. The survey was a component of the Cancuén Archaeology Project directed by Dr. Arthur Demarest of Vanderbilt University. The project investigated eleven caves through a combination of surface collection and excavation. The study was divided into North and South regions reflecting the natural landscape. The North Area is comprised of tall, tower-like hills that contain the caves Hix Pec, Cueva de las Tinajas, China Ochoch, Ventana Maya, Torre Quib, and Torre Hun. The South Area is defined as a low, hilly region that is naturally separated from the large hills to the north by a swampy area. The caves investigated in the south region include Saber, CHOC-05, Ocox, and Cabeza de Tepezquintle. The analysis of recovered artifacts used a gift-giving economic framework to place cave ritual in the context of social theory. The ceramics revealed that the caves were utilized by highland and lowland Maya populations from the Middle Preclassic through the Late Classic periods. The heaviest utilization occurred during the Early Classic period, but no substantial Early Classic period populations are known in the Cancuén region. I use the works of Mauss (2000), Weiner (1992), and Levi-Strauss (1969), to argue that the Maya economy was largely dependant on obligatory ritual gift-giving transactions with supernatural beings that inhabited caves. The gods required the Maya to perform rituals continually in exchange for the gift of the world. I use the principle of mimesis, or mimicry, to explain how the physical objects left in caves were transformed into offerings to the supernatural realm through their destruction. Offerings to the prehistoric equivalent of the modern Earth Lord were the most vital transactions for the success of the ancient Maya economy because his permission must be granted to harvest the resources necessary for production, such as stone, wood, and food. Activities associated with gift-giving, such as ancestor worship and pilgrimage, resulted in the development of social relations between the ritual participants. Today, the caves continue to be imbued with sacred power for many communities in the surrounding region. The continual ritual utilization of these caves adds to the life histories of those places. This thesis is an attempt to understand a part of that history.
