HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT MAYA IN THE ...

9General characteristics of Maya cave useEvery cave utilized by the Maya represents a unique physical and culturalconstruct shaped by natural and human agents. However, there is a suite of generalcharacteristics that commonly occur in the caves used by the ancient Maya. Theartifactual materials deposited in these caves have many forms and are found in varyingquantities. Material includes items, cultural or otherwise, introduced into the cavecontext, including human and faunal remains. The implications of human remains inthese caves are very important and require due attention. The presence of artificialconstructions clearly demonstrates the time and labor invested by the Maya in themodification of the natural cave environment. These artificial features include plasteredfloors, retaining walls, or simple altars. Evidence of settlement configurations, whichsuggest that both domestic architecture and major architectural structures were oftenintentionally placed over caves, represents yet another characteristic of Maya cave-use.Lastly, the presence of cave paintings and other rock art further demonstrates the ritualuse of caves in the Maya area. The following review of the archaeological evidenceregarding Maya cave-use is intended to establish the importance of the cave in the Mayaworld. It must be noted that the following cave descriptions focus on a specificcharacteristic. This, however, does not suggest that a particular cave solely contains asingle characteristic. In many cases, several of these features manifest themselves in acave.