Abstract

BEGEL, Johann. Characterizing and Classifying Mayan Ritual Deposits. Estud. cult. maya [online]. 2024, vol.64, pp.97-128.  Epub Mar 11, 2025. ISSN 0185-2574.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ecm.64.2024/0011wx00s893.

Initiated almost a century ago, the study of Mayan ritual deposits has undergone a gradual genesis, which until recently distinguished only caches and burials, while all cases that didn’t fit neatly into these two categories were classified as “problematical deposits”. Over the past decades, thanks to technical advances and a better understanding of the contexts, new types of rituals have been identified, such as secondary burials, termination deposits, ritual feasts and, more recently, foundation scatterings.

The aim of this methodological approach is therefore to bring together the various hypotheses already formulated to propose different ways of characterizing ritual deposits. To this end, the discoveries on the site of Tikal, the most prolific site in the Lowlands in terms of traces of rituals, will be supplemented by those of seven other sites occupied during the Preclassic and Classic periods.

The first series of criteria questions the stratigraphic position of the deposit in order to replace the ritual within the historical trajectory of the building or of the architectural group. The second point concerns the repetitive nature of these rituals which can sometimes be classified according to recurrent Ritual Complexes. These stratigraphical, morphological, chronological and artifactual information thus makes it possible to establish different etic categories and subcategories, while taking into account the probable variability of the emic meanings and purposes of these deposits. This proposed typology is neither definitive nor exhaustive and will evolve with future findings and studies of archival collections.

Keywords : Maya; Cache; Burial; Offering; Ritual Deposit.

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