Evidence of Bat Sacrifice in Ancient Maya Cave Ritual

Abstract

Excavations conducted in Naj Tunich, Petén, Guatemala encountered a number of slabs of speleothem curtains that were used as altars. Two of these contained bat skeletons suggesting that bats had been sacrificed as part of ceremonies carried out in the cave. A review of the archaeological literature documents that remains of bats has been reported in burials, caches, and constructions. Naj Tunich, however, is the first instance of sacrifice occurring in a cave which raises the problem of distinguishing between cultural as opposed to natural deposition. A series of propositions are advanced for dealing with the issue.

Fresh Observations on Ancient Maya Ceramic/Textile Composites: Technological, Contextual and Conceptual Reconsiderations

“…They may have been, but we have no data on this point. At Dos Pilas, we have evidence of large quantities of wealth and imported items being deposited in caves as part of rituals (Brady, 2005). We also see significant expenditures being made for ritual by the elites of Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize who arranged for the capture and transport alive of four large, blue/green parrot fish some 50 km inland for sacrifice at Midnight Terror Cave (Brady et al, 2019).…”

Sources of Ambivalence, Contagion, and Sympathy

“…Claude Lévi-Strauss (1966:329) cites the case of the Kogi of Columbia, who give bats contrasting and ambiguous valences by associating them not only with menstrual blood and the female sexual organ-and therefore death-but also with fecundity (see also Karadimas, Delpuech, and Rostain 2017). That association is reversed among the Aztecs, for whom these animals, which they sometimes sacrificed (Brady 2019), originated in Quetzalcoatl's sperm (Lévi-Strauss 1966:329-330). Though feared, bats have been assigned a fundamental role in the fate of humanity through their association with fecundity and with mastery of human-made objects.…”

“…It should be pointed out that bats have more positive associations in non-Western cultures, like those of Central America. Some of the Mayan deities are bats (Blaffer 2012;Brady 2019;Laughlin and Karasik 1988).…”

Extending the Notion of Night and Darkness: Volcanic Eruptions in Ancient Mesoamerica

“…In Mesoamerica alone, there are 165 species (Chiroptera family) classified along the lines of their diet (Navarro and Arroyo-Cabrales 2013, 583). They are more numerous in iconographic representations from a wide swath of Mesoamerican cultures than in actual physical remains, most likely due to their fragile nature and small size (2013, 586), although a few remains are notable (e.g., Brady 2019). Linguistically, bats are present in every Mesoamerican language, from the zotz of Mayan speakers to the quimichin of Aztec Nahuatl, though there are more representations of bats in Maya art than any other Mesoamerican culture.…”