Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Testing the Waters: Tzeltal Maya Rituals, Reconnaissance, and Survey of Lakes in the Lacanhá Basin, Chiapas, Mexico

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Maritime Archaeology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Ritual practices associated with bodies of water are well known and have been the focus of several research projects in Maya regions of Mexico. In the Northern Lowlands, for example, cenotes were and are important natural and cultural resources for prehispanic as well as for modern peoples. Based on our underwater archaeological research, we have found that ritual activities were present in other Maya regions, such as the Lacanhá River basin. The recovery of ceramic sherds in the lagoons in the area of Nueva Palestina, Ocosingo, Chiapas, and ethnographic studies here suggest a continuation of the ancient to modern ritual practices associated with bodies of water. This new interdisciplinary work also allows us to know more about the ancient inhabitants of the Lacanhá River basin where few systematic archaeological studies have been conducted.

Resumen

Las prácticas rituales asociadas a cuerpos de agua son bien conocidas y han sido el objeto de estudio de varios proyectos en la región Maya de México. En las Tierras Bajas del Norte, por ejemplo, los cenotes han sido y continúan siendo recursos naturales y culturales tanto para los antiguos mayas como para los actuales. Basados en nuestra investigación arqueológica, encontramos este tipo de actividades rituales en otras regiones más allá de la mencionada previamente, tal es el caso de la Cuenca del río Lacanhá. El hallazgo de tiestos cerámicos en las lagunas del área circundante a la población de Nueva Palestina, Ocosingo, Chiapas, aunados a los estudios etnográficos también realizados por este proyecto, nos sugieren una continuación de las antiguas prácticas culturales por parte de los pobladores actuales de la región. Este nuevo trabajo interdisciplinario también nos permite conocer más sobre los antiguos habitantes de la Cuenca del río Lacanhá donde pocos estudios arqueológicos sistemáticos se han llevado a cabo.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and material

The data used in this project are currently part of the RODA project’s annual reporting to the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia in Mexico (see citation below). Navarro et al. (2015, 2018).

Notes

  1. In his travels through Chiapas, Maler recorded images on cliff faces in Laguna Itsanok’uh (Maler 1903:30), which were later visited in 1983-1985 by J. David Wonham. Tozzer (1907:149) noted that the Lacandon would carry out sacred rites near the base of a large crack in the cliff, which included a drawing in black of a serpent or monster (Fig. 13a). Joel Palka (2005:5) has noted that it is impossible to date this image, but is certain that it was not made by the recent Lacandon people.

References

  • Andrews AP (1978) Puertos Costeros del Postclásico Temprano en el Norte de Yucatán. Estudios de Cultura Maya XI: 75-93

  • Andrews AP, Corletta R (1995) A brief history of underwater archaeology in the Maya area. Ancient Mesoamerica 6:101–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews AP, Andrews EW, Robles Castellanos F (2003) The northern Maya collapse and its aftermath. Ancient Mesoamerica 14(1):151–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Beddows PA, Glover JB, Rissolo D, Carter AM, Jaijel R, Smith DM, Goodman-Tchernov B (2016) The Proyecto Costa Escondida: Recent interdisciplinary research in search of freshwater along the North Coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water 3(5):749–761

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady JE, Ashmore W (1999) Mountains, caves, water: ideational landscapes of the ancient Maya. Archaeologies of landscape: contemporary perspectives, pp 124–145

  • Breuer KH (2004) Reshaping the cosmos: Maya society on the Yucatecan frontier. Doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University

  • Broda J (1991) Cosmovisión y observación de la naturaleza: el ejemplo del culto a los cerros, in Arqueoastronomía y etnoastronomía en Mesoamérica, edited by Johanna Broda, Stanisław Iwaniszewski and Lucrecia Maupomé, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, pp 461–500

  • Broda J (2001) La etnografía de la fiesta de la Santa Cruz: Una perspectiva histórica. In: Broda Johanna, Báez-Jorge Félix (eds) Cosmovisión, ritual e identidad de los pueblos indígenas de México. México, Fondo de Cultura Económica, pp 165–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown LA (2004) Dangerous places and wild spaces: creating meaning with materials and space at contemporary Maya shrines on El Duende Mountain. J Archaeol Method Theory 11(1):31–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Fournier P, Pastrana A, Mario P, Quiroz J (1987) Bonampak: aproximación al sitio a través de los materiales cerámicos y líticos. Cuadernos de Trabajo 4. INAH-Chiapas

  • Gandin J (2012) Social perceptions of environmental changes and local development within the Usumacinta River Basin. APCBEE Procedia 1:239–244

    Google Scholar 

  • Garza Tarazona S, Kurjack EB (1980) Atlas arqueológico del estado de Yucatán. Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Mexico City

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill RB (2001) The great Maya droughts: water, life, and death. UNM Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill RB, Mayewski PA, Nyberg J, Haug GH, Peterson LC (2007) Drought and the Maya collapse. Ancient Mesoamerica 18(2):283–302

    Google Scholar 

  • Golden CW (2003) The politics of warfare in the Usumacinta Basin: La Pasadita and the realm of Bird Jaguar. In Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare, pp 31–48

  • Golden CW, Muñoz AR, Escobedo H, Houston S, Kovak A (2002) Fronteras Políticas y Sitios Secundarios en la Cuenca Media del Usumacinta. Proceedings of the XVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, pp 948–958

  • Gonlin N (2007) Ritual and ideology among Classic Maya rural commoners at Copán, Honduras. In Commoner ritual and ideology in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Nancy Gonlin and Jon C. Lohse. University Press of Colorado, Denver, CO, pp 83–121

  • Gossen G (1990) Los Chamulas en el mundo del Sol, Colección Presencias núm. 17. INI-Conaculta, Mexico

  • Haug GH, Günther D, Peterson LC, Sigman DM, Hughen KA, Aeschlimann B (2003) Climate and the collapse of Maya civilization. Science 299(5613):1731–1735

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooton EA (1940) Skeletons from the cenote of sacrifice at Chichen Itzá. CL Hay, The Maya and their Neighbors, Appleton-Century, New York, pp 272–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Isendahl C (2011) The weight of water: a new look at pre-hispanic Puuc Maya water reservoirs. Ancient Mesoamerica 22(1):185–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaijel R, Glover JB, Rissolo D, Beddows PA, Smith D, Ben-Avraham Z, Goodman-Tchernov B (2018) Coastal reconstruction of Vista Alegre, an ancient maritime Maya settlement. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 497:25–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinkella A (2004) The pools at Cara Blanca: archaeology in the valley of Peace Above and Below the Water. Res Rep Belizean Archaeol 1:93–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunen J, Galindo MJ, Chase E (2002) Pits and bones: identifying Maya ritual behavior in the archaeological record. Ancient Mesoamerica 12(2):197–211

    Google Scholar 

  • López Austin A (1994) Tamoanchan y Tlalocan. Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico

    Google Scholar 

  • López Austin A (1996) La Cosmovisión Mesoamericana. In: Lombardo Sonia, Nalda Enrique (eds) Temas Mesoamericanos. Mexico, INAH, pp 417–507

    Google Scholar 

  • López Austin A (2001) El núcleo duro, la cosmovisión y la tradición mesoamericana. In Cosmovisión, ritual e identidad de los pueblos indígenas de México, edited by Johanna Broda and Félix Báez-Jorge. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, pp 47–56

  • López Varela S (1989) Análisis y clasificación de la cerámica de un sitio maya del clásico: Yaxchilán. México, British Archaeological Reports Ltd

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucero LJ (2006) Water and ritual: the rise and fall of Classic Maya rulers. University of Texas Press, Texas

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucero LJ, Fash BW (eds) (2006) Precolumbian water management: ideology, ritual, and power. University of Arizona Press, Arizona

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucero LJ, Kinkella A (2015) Pilgrimage to the edge of the watery underworld: an ancient Maya water temple at Cara Blanca, Belize. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 25(1):163–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Maler T (1903) Researches in the central portion of the Usumatsintla Valley: report of explorations for the Museum, 1898–1900. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 2(1) Cambridge, MA

  • Mathews JP, Garber JF (2004) Models of cosmic order: physical expression of sacred space among the ancient Maya. Ancient Mesoamerica 15(1):49–59

    Google Scholar 

  • McKillop HI (1995) Underwater archaeology, salt production and coastal Maya trade at Stingray Lagoon, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 6(3):214–228

    Google Scholar 

  • McKillop HI (1996) Ancient Maya trading ports and the integration of long-distance and regional economies: Wild Cane Cay in south-coastal Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 7(1):49–62

    Google Scholar 

  • McKillop HI (2004) The ancient Maya: new perspectives. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • McKillop H, Harlow G, Sievert A, Smith CW, Wiemann MC (2019) Demystifying jadeite: an underwater Maya discovery at Ek Way Nal, Belize. Antiquity 93(368):502–518

    Google Scholar 

  • Navarro Castillo M (2015) Informe Parcial de la Primera Temporada de Campo Proyecto Arqueológico Rancho Ojo de Agua en la Periferia de Centros Clásicos Mayas. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

  • Navarro Castillo M, Sheseña Hernández A (2015) Interacciones Sociales en el Sitio Rancho Ojo de Agua, Cuenca del Río Lacanhá, Chiapas. Ketzalcalli 2(3):5–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Navarro Castillo M, Paling JSR and Lowry JP (2018) Informe Técnico Parcial Proyecto Arqueológico Rancho Ojo de Agua en la Periferia de Centros Clásicos Mayas. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

  • Palka JW (1998) Lacandon Maya culture change and survival in the lowland frontier of the expanding Guatemalan and Mexican republics. Stud Cult Contact Inter Cult Change Archaeol Occasional Pap 25:457–475

    Google Scholar 

  • Palka JW (2005) Rock paintings and Lacandon Maya sacred landscapes. PARI Journal 5(3):1–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Palka JW (2014) Maya pilgrimage to ritual landscapes: insights from archaeology, history, and ethnography. UNM Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearse AS (1936) Results of survey of the cenotes in Yucatan. The cenotes of Yucatan. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, pp 17–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell BW (2016) All the Gods of the World: Modern Maya Ritual in Yucatán, Mexico. Ethnoarchaeology 8(1):4–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarborough VL (1998) Ecology and ritual: water management and the Maya. Latin Am Antiquity 9(2):135–159

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer AK (2007) Population structure of the classic period Maya. Am J Phys Anthropol 132(3):367–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer AK, Golden C, Dobereiner J (2013) Proyecto Arqueológico Busiljá-Chocolja: Informe de la Cuarta Temporada de Investigación. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

  • Schuster AM (1997) Rituals of the modern Maya. Archaeology 50(4):50–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott AM (2009) Communicating with the sacred earthscape: ethnoarchaeological investigation of Kaqchikel Maya ceremonies in highland Guatemala. University of Texas at Austin, Anthropology

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson JES (1976) Maya history and religion. The civilization of the American Indian series, 3rd edn. University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma

    Google Scholar 

  • Tovalín Ahumada A, Ortiz Villarreal VM, Velázquez de León Collins A (2004) Región norte del valle del Río Lacanhá, Chiapas. BOLOM, p 55

  • Tovalín Ahumada A, Ortíz VM, Echauri IE (2011) Consideraciones sobre territorio y gobierno en Bonampak y el norte del Valle del río Lacanhá. In El despliegue del poder entre los mayas: Nuevos estudios sobre la organización política, edited by A. L. Izquierdo y de la Cueva. UNAM-IIF-CEM, México, pp 63–97

  • Tozzer AM (1907) A comparative study of the mayas and the lacandones. McMillan Comp, New-York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tozzer AM (1941) Landa’s Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán: a translation. Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology. Harvard University, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vail G, Looper MG (2015) World renewal rituals among the postclassic Yucatec Maya and Contemporary Ch’orti’ Maya. Estudios de cultura maya 45:121–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe JM (1990) From saints to shibboleths: Image, structure, and identity in Maya religious syncretism. Am Ethnol 17(1):131–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Wonham JD (1985) Lake Petha and the lost murals of Chiapas. Vol. 2. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute

Download references

Acknowledgements

The 2017 underwater Phase I survey of lakes in the Lacanhá basin was possible thanks to the generous support from UNICACH and INAH Mexico. The underwater survey was possible because of the work of some great skilled national and international underwater archaeologists, biologists, and professional divers. A special thanks to Jose Jimenez Gonzalez and UNICACH for permitting the use of scuba equipment and for Jose’s assistance on the project. Thank you also to Oscar Sanchez of UNICACH who deserves to be recognized for his contribution to the fieldwork on this project. With initial support from the Junta Ejidal of the town of Lacanhá Chansayab, we were able to meet with Pablo Chankin Najbor, who graciously offered access to his land and access to the lakes. Additionally, much of the preparation for figures was completed with the help of Edgar Jonapá. Also, we would like to thank Lucinda Vázquez Méndez for her assistance during the ethnography of the rituals conducted at Nueva Palestina and to Ing. José Gómez Sánchez for his help in the translation from Tzeltal to Spanish. We would like to thank Ing. Camerino for his help with the project logistics and all the inhabitants of Nueva Palestina who helped during the seasons of the project. Thanks also to the reviewers of this paper, and their insight and contributions were valuable. The authors would also like to acknowledge the help and support of Gabi, Tadeo, Ilona, Astra, Siobhan, and Gabe. Without you, we would not be able to do what we do. In loving memory of José Navarro.

Funding

Funding was received from the Repatriation Program of the National Council for Science and Technology, Mexico (ConacyT), for the RODA project in its first season (Award #244873). Also, thanks to Programa para el Desarrollo del Personal Docente, Chiapas, Mexico (PRODEP), which provided funding for the second season of the project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, Blvd. Ángel Albino Corzo y Calzada Samuel León Brindis No. 151., C.P. 29000, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico

    Marx Navarro Castillo

  2. Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, Office 133 Redcay Hall, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY, 12901, USA

    Justin P. Lowry

  3. Anthropology and Sociology, Plymouth State University, Office 216 Rounds Hall, 17 High Street, Plymouth, NH, 03264-1595, USA

    Jason S. R. Paling

Authors
  1. Marx Navarro Castillo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Justin P. Lowry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jason S. R. Paling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Justin P. Lowry.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Navarro Castillo, M., Lowry, J.P. & Paling, J.S.R. Testing the Waters: Tzeltal Maya Rituals, Reconnaissance, and Survey of Lakes in the Lacanhá Basin, Chiapas, Mexico. J Mari Arch 15, 451–474 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-020-09278-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-020-09278-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation