In the Maw of the Earth Monster: Mesoamerican Ritual Cave Use

Published by University of Texas Press 2005

In the Maw of the Earth Monster

Mesoamerican Ritual Cave Use

Edited by: James E. Brady and Keith M. Prufer

In the series The Linda Schele Series in Maya and Pre-Columbian Studies

https://doi.org/10.7560/705869

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

James E. Brady is Associate Professor of Anthropology at California State University, Los Angeles. Keith M. Prufer is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.

Reviews

This volume represents a unique contribution to the published data on ritual cave use in Mesoamerica. . . . No other volume includes such a range of sites, materials, or methodological approaches.

— Charles Golden, University of Pennsylvania Museum, coeditor of Continuities and Changes in Maya Archaeology: Perspectives at the Millennium

This volume on Mesoamerican ritual cave use is a significant achievement on the editors' part and a major contribution to cave research. It is also a landmark in research on religion, ritual, and worldview in Maya studies as a whole.

— Journal of Latin American Studies

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
CHAPTER 1. Introduction: A History of Mesoamerican Cave Interpretation James E. Brady and Keith M. Prufer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART 1. CENTRAL MEXICO
CHAPTER 2. Rites of Passage and Other Ceremonies in Caves Doris Heyden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
CHAPTER 3. The Cave-Pyramid Complex among the Contemporary Nahua of Northern Veracruz Alan R. Sandstrom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
CHAPTER 4. Constructing Mythic Space: The Significance of a Chicomoztoc Complex at Acatzingo Viejo Manuel Aguilar, Miguel Medina Jaen, Tim M. Tucker and James E. Brady Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
PART 2. OAXACA
CHAPTER 5. Pre-Hispanic Rain Ceremonies in Blade Cave, Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, Mexico Janet Fitzsimmons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
CHAPTER 6. Sacred Caves and Rituals from the Northern Mixteca of Oaxaca, Mexico: New Revelations Carlos Rincón Mautner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
PART 3. THE MAYA REGION
CHAPTER 7. Some Notes on Ritual Caves among the Ancient and Modern Maya Evon Z. Vogt and David Stuart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
CHAPTER 8. Shamans, Caves, and the Roles of Ritual Specialists in Maya Society Keith M. Prufer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
CHAPTER 9. Cave Stelae and Megalithic Monuments in Western Belize Jaime J. Awe, Cameron Griffith and Sherry Gibbs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
CHAPTER 10. A Cognitive Approach to Artifact Distribution in Caves of the Maya Area Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
CHAPTER 11. Cluster Concentrations, Boundary Markers, and Ritual Pathways: A GIS Analysis of Artifact Cluster Patterns at Actun Tunichil Muknal, Belize Holley Moyes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
CHAPTER 12. Ethnographic Notes on Maya Q’eqchi’ Cave Rites: Implications for Archaeological Interpretation Abigail E. Adams and James E. Brady Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
CHAPTER 13. A Lacandon Religious Ritual in the Cave of the God Tsibaná at the Holy Lake of Mensabok in the Rainforest of Chiapas Jaroslaw Theodore Petryshyn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	328
CHAPTER 14. Beneath the Yalahau: Emerging Patterns of Ancient Maya Ritual Cave Use from Northern Quintana Roo, Mexico Dominique Rissolo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	342
CHAPTER 15. Caves, Karst, and Settlement at Mayapán, Yucatán Clifford T. Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373
CHAPTER 16. Concluding Comments Keith M. Prufer and James E. Brady Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	403
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	413

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 448
Illustrations
- Other: 145 figures

eBook

Published: September 15, 2009
ISBN: 9780292797352