Caves and Ancient Maya Ritual Use ofJute

Abstract

A number of previous authors have suggested, based on limited data, thatPachychilusspp., freshwater gastropods often calledjute, may have played a role in ancient Maya ritual. Data collected by the authors demonstrate thatjuteshells consistently appear as part of faunal assemblages in ceremonial caves across the southern Maya Lowlands. At surface sites, jute are often associated with ceremonial architecture, particularly ballcourts. Previous ethnographic accounts are reviewed for clues to ancient Maya jute use. New ethnographic data suggest a role not previously considered by archaeologists. A Q‘eqchi’ Maya informant states that shells are gathered up after meals and deposited in caves as an offering in thanks to “Mother Earth” (Madre Tierra) who provided the mollusks. This practice suggests that the ancient shells may represent a secondary deposition rather than reflecting consumption occurring in the cave. The presence of jute shells may document ancient religious beliefs and ritual activities surrounding an important subsistence resource.

Ancientg Maya Stone Tools and Ritual Use of Deep Valley Rockshelter, Belize

“…Like many caves and rockshelters in the Maya world (e.g., Brady, 1989;Graham et al, 1980;Halperin et al, 2003;Helmke, 2009;MacLeod and Puleston, 1978), dense deposits of jute shells were also recovered from DVR1 (Hardy, 2009). This has been noted at CBR (Bonor and Martínez Klemm, 1995;Wrobel and Tyler, 2006;Hardy, 2009) and in mortuary rockshelters in the Ek Xux Valley (Prufer, 2002) as well.…”

“…Ethnographic evidence also indicates that jute, the freshwater gastropod Pachychilus sp., was included in rituals (Healy et al, 1990, p. 171). The Q'eqchi' Maya transported the shells of consumed jute to caves, where they would be deposited to thank the Earth goddess (Halperin et al, 2003). The Lacandon Maya of Naha are also reported to have consumed jute daily during periods of ritual seclusion (Brady 1989, p. 381).…”

“…Caves and the natural water-filled sinkholes called cenotes were places where human sacrifices, often children, were made, where the Maya buried their dead, and where the living went to make offerings of various types to gain the favor of their ancestors and supernatural beings, such as earth and rain gods (Brady, 1989;Gibbs, 1998;Ishihara, 2008;Moyes et al, 2009;Prufer, 2002Prufer, , 2005Tozzer, 1941;Vogt and Stuart, 2005). Many objects have been used as offerings by past and present-day Maya, including animals, blood, ceramics, wood, candles, incense, maize, cacao, shells, crystals, pebbles, obsidian blades, and chipped-chert flakes and implements (e.g., Awe et al, 2005;Bassie-Sweet, 1991;Brady and Prufer, 1999;Halperin et al, 2003;Morehart, 2005;Moyes et al, 2009;Prufer, 2002Prufer, , 2005Prufer and Hurst, 2007;Prufer et al, 2003). Like their modern descendants, the ancient Maya associated chert with lightning (Freidel et al, 1993, p. 200), and given that many underworld rituals focused on rain, fertility, and sustenance, the deposition of chert debitage in caves and rockshelters may very likely have been related to this ideology.…”

The View of Maya Cave Ritual from the Overlook Rockshelter, Caves Branch River Valley, Central Belize

“…Ceramic sherds accounted for most of the artifacts visible on the surface, though freshwater jute shells and several river cobbles were also noted. Typical of most other cave and rockshelter sites in the area, the jute had broken, or spirelopped, tips to facilitate consumption of the animal inside (see Halperin et al, 2003 for discussion of the ritual significance of jute among the Maya). The rest of the surface does not contain soil or any traces of human activity and is composed of flowstone and large boulders of breakdown from the cliff face above.…”

Preliminary Investigation of a Ritual Cave Site in the

“…The rain deity, Chaac, was believed to reside within caves, where wind was formed that carried water to the sky. While caves were places connected with supernatural and often malevolent forces, they were also places that the Maya considered as wombs of the earth, connected to the primordial water that was the source of creation (Halperin et al, 2003). This duality is best described as reflecting breaks in the quadrilateral fabric of the world through which destructive forces and essential elements could enter (Bassie-Sweet, 2008).…”