Mortuary Ritual and Family Politics at Formative and Early Classic K'axob, Belize

Abstract

Mortuary interments from Formative and Early Classic deposits of the Maya site of K'axob, northern Belize, show significant variation in four aspects: burial position, number of interments within a burial facility, incidence of secondary interments, and types of associated burial accoutrements. Burial data for more than 100 individuals of both sexes and all age grades indicate that these changes over time are significant. The implications of these patterns for heightening our understanding of mortuary ritual are explored in depth. Evidence suggests that tightly wrapped seated and flexed burials represent the Late Formative onset of more protracted rituals involving prolonged displays of ancestors. Terminal Formative mortuary deposits featuring collections of curated ancestor remains indicate the “gathering of ancestors,” generally at a locale at which a monumental structure was later built. Sex and age distributions within multiple interments (both primary and secondary) reflect the familial character of burial locales, particularly at the centrally located Operation I. Burial accoutrements demonstrate the connectivity of K'axob to general cosmological armatures of Maya society. Increasingly individualized artifacts indicate the socially diacritical role of burial offerings.

The prehistoric drug trade: widespread consumption of cacao in Ancestral Pueblo and Hohokam communities in the American Southwest

“…Glyphs on the exterior rims of these cylindrical "chocolate pots" specifically describe the vessel forms as well as the occasion, the contents, the artist and the owner/ patron (Stuart, 2006). It has been argued that prior to the Classic, vertically-spouted pitchers may have been used to froth the liquid (McAnany et al, 1999), a suggestion that gives this practice some antiquity. Our tests found theobromine in a Late Classic spouted vessel from Kixpek (University of Pennsylvania NA 11604).…”

Materialized cosmology among ancient Maya commoners

“…Did the Maya avoid depositing black vessels with the deceased since those being buried in the home still had a role to play in the lives of the living as ancestors? Similar to inverted vessels in other deposits, inverting the vessel over the head may have been a way to de-animate the vessel while animating the ancestor (Lucero, 2008) and/or to protect the body (McAnany et al, 1999). The accompanying vessels and groundstone may have been to contain and prepare food for the soul (Vogt, 1998) for the journey through the underworld.…”

“…The shape and alignment of ritual deposits comprise part of the map as well, via the cross motif and quadripartite divisions (Kunen et al, 2002;McAnany et al, 1999;Vogt, 1998). For instance, among the contemporary Zinacantecos of Chiapas, Mexico, the cross symbolizes ancestral gods and the house's soul (Vogt, 1993).…”

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“…Ceramic figurines, long relegated to typological, stylistic, and chronological analyses, have emerged as important components in social analyses of domestic rituals (Cyphers Guillén, 1993;Lesure, 1999Lesure, , 2002Marcus, 1996Marcus, , 1998b. Studies of other ritual artifacts (such as censers), domestic burials, and shrines also are contributing to a growing understanding of the nature of ritual practices in the domestic realm (Brown, 2000;Masson, 1999b;McAnany, 1995;McAnany et al, 1999;Plunket and Uruñuela, 1998;Rice, 1999). Plunket's (2002) recent collection, Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica, marks a culmination of this line of analysis and sets the groundwork for more detailed investigations of household-level ritual in the future.…”