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Watery Relations and Creations: Ancient Maya Engagement with the Cara Blanca Pools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2020

Jean T. Larmon Open the ORCID record for Jean T. Larmon [Opens in a new window]
Jean T. Larmon*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 607 S Mathews Ave Urbana, IL61801-3028USA Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Many archaeologists have sought to interpret the archaeological record with an understanding that non-humans are active constituents within myriad human ontologies. I suggest that to truly understand the spaces with which we exist, we need not invite non-humans into our ontologies, but rather reincorporate ourselves into theirs. This approach decenters humans and puts forth an ontology of matter, within which diverse human ontologies can unfold but to which we are all subject. A closer look at water, specifically at the ancient Maya pilgrimage site of Cara Blanca, Belize, offers an example of how humans exist as only one part of many that participate in the formation of landscapes and shows how water's affect preempts cultural relationships with water. The inherent qualities of water are affective, and it is this affect that integrates Cara Blanca. I introduce my adoption of the concept of kinesis, a territorializing force that allows for the possibility of non-humans to cause history. Thus, I follow water through the archaeological data, elucidating how water's kinesis created possibility at Cara Blanca.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 35 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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