Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:36:45.329Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Wood of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Pine (Pinus spp.) by the Ancient Lowland Maya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Christopher T. Morehart ,
David L. Lentz  and
Keith M. Prufer
Christopher T. Morehart
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 60208
David L. Lentz
Affiliation:
Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022
Keith M. Prufer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, 67260
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The recovery of pine (Pinus spp.) charcoal remains from ceremonial contexts at sites in the Maya Lowlands suggests that pine had a significant role in ancient Maya ritual activities. Data collected by the authors reveal that pine remains are a regular component of archaeobotanical assemblages from caves, sites that were used almost exclusively for ritual purposes, and that pine is often the dominant taxon of wood charcoal recovered. Comparisons with archaeobotanical data from surface sites likewise reveals that pine is common in ceremonial deposits. The authors propose that the appearance of pine remains in ceremonial contexts indicates pine was a valued element of Maya ritual paraphernalia. By basing interpretations with analogous information from ethnography, ethnohistory, iconography, and epigraphy, the use of pine during rituals is argued to be have been linked with a symbolic complex of ritual burning and offering “food” sacrifices to deities. The possibility is raised that burning pine, perhaps as torches, during some ancient rituals was similar to the modern use of candles. The diversity of ceremonial contexts yielding pine suggests that burning pine may have been a basic element of ritual activities that was essential to establish the legitimacy of ritual performances.

La recuperación de restos de carbón de pino (Pinus spp.) de contextos ceremoniales en sitios de las tierras bajas mayas sugiere que tuvo un papel significativo en las actividades ceremoniales de los antiguos mayas. Datos recolectados por los autores señalan que los restos de pino son normales dentro de los materiales arqueobotánicos encontrados en cuevas; tipos de sitios usados casi exclusivamento para propósitos rituales, y que el carbón de pino es el recuperado más frecuentemente. Además, comparaciones con datos arqueobotánicos de otros sitios arqueológicos indican que el pino es común en depósitos ceremoniales. Los autores proponen que la presencia de restos de pino en contextos ceremoniales revela que fue un elemento significativo en las actividades rituales mayas. Sobre interpretaciones basadas en información análoga procedente de la etnografía, la etnohistoria, la iconografía, y la epigrafía el uso de madera de pino durante rituales tiene probablemente una relación con un complejo de quemas rituales y ofrendas de sacrificios de “comida” a las deidades. Esto surge de la posibilidad de que el uso del pino, posiblemente en antorchas durante ciertos rituales antiguos, fuese similar al empleo moderno de las velas. La diversidad de los contextos ceremoniales en donde se encuentra el pino sugiere que la quema de pino posiblemente haya sido un elemento básico de las actividades rituales, esencial para establecer la autenticidad de las actividades ceremoniales.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 2005 , pp. 255 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for American Archaeology.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Alcorn, Janis B. 1984 Huastec Maya Ethnobotany. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Anderson, Eugene N. 2000 Maya Knowledge and “Science Wars.” Journal of Ethnobiology 20:129–158.Google Scholar
Appadurai, Arjun 1986 Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value. In The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by Arjun Appadurai, pp. 3–63. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Atran, Scott, and Ek’, Edilberto Ucan 1999 Classification of Useful Plants by the Northern Petén Maya (Itzaj). In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 19–59. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Awe, Jaime J. (editor) 1998 The Western Belize Regional Cave Project: A Report of the 1997 Field Season. Occasional Paper No. 1. Department of Anthropology, University of New Hampshire, Durham.Google Scholar
Barrera Marin, Alfredo, Vázquez, Alfredo Barrera, and Franco, Rosa María López 1976 Nomenclatura etnobotanica Maya: Una interpretacioón taxonómica. Colección Científica 36. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Bassie-Sweet, Karen 1991 From the Mouth of the Dark Cave: Commemorative Sculpture of the Late Classic Maya. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Bassie-Sweet, Karen 1996 At the Edge of the World: Caves and Late Classic Maya World View. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Bassie-Sweet, Karen 2002 Corn Deities and the Male/Female Complementary Principle, Electronic document, www.mesoweb.com/features/bassie/CreatorGods/CreatorGods.pdf, accessed May 1,2002.Google Scholar
Bassie-Sweet, Karen, de Lara, Jorge Perez, and Zender, Marc 2000 Joija Cave. PARI Journal 1 (1):5–10.Google Scholar
Berlin, Brent, Breedlove, Dennis E., and Raven, Peter H. 1974 Principles of Tzeltal Plant Classification: An Introduction to the Botanical Ethnography of a Mayan-Speaking People of Highland Chiapas. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Bloch, Maurice 1992 What Goes Without Saying: The Conceptualization of Zafimaniry Society. In Conceptualizing Society, edited by Adam Kuper, pp. 127–146. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Brady, James E. 1989 An Investigation of Maya Ritual Cave Use with Special Reference to Naj Tunich, Guatemala. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Brady, James E. 1995 A Reassessment of the Chronology and Function of Gordon’s Cave #3, Copan, Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica 6:29–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, James E. 1997 Settlement Configuration and Cosmology: The Role of Caves at Dos Pilas. American Anthropologist 99:602–618.Google Scholar
Brady, James E., and Ashmore, Wendy 1999 Mountains, Caves, Water: Ideational Landscapes of the Ancient Maya. In Archaeologies of Landscape: Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Wendy Ashmore and A. Bernard Knapp, pp. 124–148. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford.Google Scholar
Brady, James E., and Prufer, Keith M. 1999 Caves and Crystalmancy: Evidence for the Use of Crystals in Ancient Maya Religion. Journal of Anthropological Research 55:129–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, James E., Ware, Gene A., Luke, Barbara, Cobb, Allan, Fogarty, John, and Shade, Beverly 1997 Preclassic Cave Utilization near Cobanerita, San Benito. Mexican 14(5):91–96.Google Scholar
Breedlove, Dennis E., and Hopkins, Nicholas A. 1971 A Study of Chuj (Mayan) Plants with Notes on Their Uses II. The Wasmann Journal of Biology 29:107–128.Google Scholar
Breedlove, Dennis E., and Laughlin, Robert M. 1993 The Flowering of Man: A Tzotzil Botany of Zinacantan. 2 vols. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, No. 35. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. Google Scholar
Brown, Linda A. 2002 The Structure of Ritual Practice: An Ethnoarchaeo-logical Exploration of Activity Areas at Rural Community Shrines in the Maya Highlands. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Colorado, Boulder, University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Brown, Linda A. 2004 Dangerous Places and Wild Spaces: Creating Meaning with Materials and Space at Contemporary Maya Shrines on El Duende Mountain. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 11:31–58.Google Scholar
Case, Ryan J., Tucker, Arthur O., Maciarello, Michael J., and Wheeler, Kraig A. 2003 Chemistry and Ethnobotany of Commercial Incense Copals, Copal Blanco, Copal Oro, and Copal Negro, of North America. Economic Botany 57: 189–202.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen F. 1998 The Architectural Contexts of Caches, Burials, and Other Ritual Activities for the Classic Period Maya (as Reflected at Caracol, Belize). In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 299–332. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Cliff, Maynard B., and Crane, Cathy J. 1989 Changing Maya Subsistence Economy at a Late Preclassic Maya Community. In Prehistoric Maya Economies of Belize, edited by Patricia A. McAnany and Barry L. Isaac, pp. 295–324. Research in Economic Anthropology Vol. 4. JAI Press, Greenwich.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Stone, Mark Van 2001 Reading the Maya Glyphs. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Crane, Cathy J. 1986 Late Preclassic Maya Agriculture, Wild Plant Utilization, and Land-Use Practices. In Archaeology at Cerros Belize, Central America, edited by Robin A. Robertson and David A. Freidel, pp. 147–164. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.Google Scholar
Crane, Cathy J. 1996 Archaeobotanical and Palynological Research at a Late Preclassic Maya Community, Cerros, Belize. In Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, edited by Scott L. Fedick, pp. 262–277. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Deal, Michael 1988 Recognition of Ritual Pottery in Residential Units: An Ethnoarchaeological Model of the Maya Family Altar Tradition. In Ethnoarchaeology Among the Highland Maya of Chiapas, edited by Thomas A. Lee and Brian Hayden, pp. 61–90. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation No. 26. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Flores, José S., and Balam, Jesús Kantún. 1997 Importance of Plants in the Ch’a Chaak Maya Ritual in the Peninsula of Yucatan. Journal of Ethnobiology 17:97–108.Google Scholar
Ford, Richard I. 1976 Carbonized Plant Remains. In Fabrica San Jose and Middle Formative Society in the Valley of Oaxaca, edited by Kent V. Flannery, pp. 261–268. Memoirs No. 8. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Freidel, David A., Scheie, Linda, and Parker, Joy 1993 Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand years on the Shaman’s Path. Quill, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Furst, Jill L. 1995 The Natural History of the Soul in Ancient Mexico. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Gann, Thomas 1925 Mystery Cities: Exploration and Adventures in Lubaantun. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Graham, Elizabeth, McNatt, Locan, and Gutchen, Mark A. 1980 Excavations in Footprint Cave, Caves Branch, Belize. Journal of Field Archaeology 7:172.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, TourteHot, Gair, Everson, Gloria, Sagebiel, Kerry L., Thomas, Ben, and Wolf, Marc 2000 Survey and Excavations at La Milpa, Belize, 1998. Mexicon 22(2):38–43.Google Scholar
Hastorf, Christine A. 1991 Gender, Space, and Food in Prehistory. In Engendering Archaeology, edited by Joan M. Gero and Meg W. Conkey, pp. 132–159. Blackwell, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hastorf, Christine A., and Johannessen, Sissel 1993 Pre-Hispanic Political Change and the Role of Maize in the Central Andes of Peru. American Anthropologist 95:115–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastrup, Kirsten 1989 Nature as Historical Place. Folk 31:5–20.Google Scholar
Hodder, Ian 1985 Postprocessual Archaeology. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 8, edited by Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 1–26. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hodder, Ian (editor) 1987 The Archaeology of Contextual Meanings. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D., and Taube, Karl A. 2000 An Archaeology of the Senses: Perception and Cultural Expression in Ancient Mesoamerica. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 10:261–294.Google Scholar
Jones, John G. 1991 Pollen Evidence of Prehistoric Forest Modification and Maya Cultivation in Belize. Ph.D. dissertation, Texas A&M University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Josserand, J. Kathryn, and Hopkins, Nicholas A. 1996 Choi Ritual Language. Electronic document, http://www.famsi.org/reports/94017/index.html, accessed May 1, 2002.Google Scholar
Kolb, Michael J., and Murakami, G. H. 1994 Cultural dynamics and the ritual use of woods in pre-contact Hawai’i. Asian Perspectives 33:57–78.Google Scholar
Kopytoff, Igor 1986 The Social Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process. In The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by Arjun Appadurai, pp. 64–91. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laughlin, Robert M. 1975 The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantan. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology No. 19. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. Google Scholar
Lentz, David L. 1989 Botanical Remains from the El Cajón Area: Insights into a Prehistoric Dietary Pattern. In Archaeological Research in the El Cajón Region, I: Prehistoric Cultural Ecology, edited by Kenneth Hirth, Glora L. Pinto, and George Hasemann, pp. 187–206. Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology No. 1. Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L. 1990 Acrocomia mexicana: Palm of the Ancient Mesoamericans. Journal of Ethnobiology 10:183–194.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L. 1991 Maya Diets of the Rich and Poor: Paleoethnobotanical Evidence from Copan. Latin American Antiquity 2:269–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lentz, David L. 1994 Paleoethnobotanical Evidence for Subsistence Practices and Other Economic Activities in the Petexbatun Region during the Classic Period. Paper presented at the 93rd American Anthropological Association Meeting, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L. 1999 Plant Resources of the Ancient Maya: The Paleoethnobotanical Evidence. In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 3–18. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn P., de Aguilar, Maria L. R., and Kaplan, Lawrence 1996 Foodstuffs, Forest, Fields and Shelter: A Paleoethnobotanical Analysis of Vessel Contents from the Ceren Site, El Salvador. Latin American Antiquity 7:247–262.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., Ramirez, Carlos R., and Grimson, Bronson W. 1997 Formative Period Subsistence and Forest Product Extraction at the Yarumela Site, Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica 8:63–74.Google Scholar
Lentz, David L., Jaeger, Jason, and Robin, Cynthia 2003 The Pine Tree Trade: Exchange and Distribution Among Late Classic Maya in the Upper Belize River Valley. Paper presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Lesure, Richard 1999 On the Genesis of Value in Early Hierarchical Societies. In Material Symbols: Culture and Economy in Prehistory, edited by John E. Robb. Occasional Paper No. 26. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
López Austin, Alfredo 1988 The Human Body and Ideology Concepts of the Ancient Nahuas. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Love, Bruce, and Castillo, Eduard Peraza 1984 Wahil Kol; a Yucatec Maya Agricultural Ceremony. Estudios de Cultura Maya 15:251–307.Google Scholar
MacLeod, Barbara, and Puleston, Dennis 1978 Pathways into darkness: The Search for the Road to Xibalba. In Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Vol. 4, edited by Merle G. Robertson and Donnan C. Jeffers, pp. 71–77. Herald Press, Monterey, California.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon, and Grube, Nikolai 2000 Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens: Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
McGee, Jon R. 1990 Life, Ritual, and Religion among the Lacandon Maya. Wadsworth Publications, Belmont.Google Scholar
McKillop, Heather I. 1994 Ancient Maya Tree Cropping: a Viable Subsistence Adaptation for the Island Maya. Ancient Mesoamerica 5:129–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKillop, Heather I. 1996 Prehistoric Maya Use of Native Palms: Archaeobotanical and Ethnobotanical Evidence. In The Managed Mosaic: Ancient Maya Agriculture and Resource Use, edited by Scott L. Fedick, pp. 278–294. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Metzger, Duane G., and Williams, Gerald E. 1966 Some Procedures and Results in the Study of Native Categories: Tzeltal “Firewood.” American Anthropologist 68:389–407.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1983 Macrorloral Remains in the Pulltrouser Area: Settlements and Fields. In Pulltrouser Swamp: Ancient Maya Habitat. Agriculture and Settlement in Northern Belize, edited by Billie L. Turner and Peter D. Harrison, pp. 94–104. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1986 Paleobotanical Identifications. In The Archaeology of Santa Leticia and the Rise of Maya Civilization, edited by Arthur A. Demarest.pp. 199–200. Tulane University Press, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1988 Man and Environment at Cihuatán. In Cihuatdn, El Salvador: A Study in Intrasite Variability, edited by Jane H. Kelley, pp. 149–155. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1990 Early Wetland Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands: Clues from Preserved Plant Remains. In Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize, edited by Mary Pohl, pp. 295–312. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H. 1991 The Economy and Ecology of Cuello. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Norman Hammond, pp. 70–97. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.Google Scholar
Miksicek, Charles H., Bird, Robert M., Pickersgill, Barbara, Donaghey, Sara, Cartwright, Juliette, and Hammond, Norman 1981 Preclassic Lowland Maize from Cuello, Belize. Nature 289:56–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Naomi F. 1988 Ratios in Paleoethnobotanical Analysis. In Current Paleoethnobotany: Analytical Methods and Cultural Interpretations of Archaeological Plant Remains, edited by Christine A. Hastorf and Virginia S. Popper, pp. 72–85. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T. 2001a Preliminary Analysis of Paleoethnobotanical Samples from Pook’s Hill, Cayo District Belize. In The Western Belize Regional Cave Project: A Report of the 2000 Field Season, edited by Reiko Ishihara, Cameron Griffith, and Jaime Awe pp. 447–460. Occasional Paper No. 4, Department of Anthropology, University of New Hampshire, Durham.Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T. 2001b Plants of the Underworld: Ritual Plant Use in Ancient Maya Cave Ceremonies. Paper presented at the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T. 2002a A Paleoethnobotanical Perspective on Ancient Maya Cave Utilization. Paper presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Denver.Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T. 2002b Ancient Maya Ritual Cave Utilization: A Paleoethnobotanical Perspective. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, Florida State University, Tallahassee.Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T. 2003 Paleoethnobotany at Avila. In Belize Postclassic Project 2002: Investigation of the Shore Settlements of Progresso Lagoon and San Estevan, edited by Josalyn M. Ferguson, Maxine H. Oland, and Marilyn Masson, pp. 126–151. Occasional Publication No. 9. Institute of Mesoamerican Studies, The University at Albany-SUNY, Albany Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T., Prufer, Keith M., and Lentz, David L. 2003 Wood of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Pine in Ancient Maya Society. Paper presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T., Wyatt, Andrew R., and Lentz, David L. 2004 Paleoethnobotany in the Upper Belize Valley. Paper presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar
Oakes, Maude 1951 The Two Crosses of Todos Santos: Survivals of Mayan Religious Ritual. Pantheon Books, New York.Google Scholar
Pendergast, David M. 1974 Excavations at Actun Polbilche, British Honduras. Archaeology Monograph No. 1. Royal Ontario Museum, Division of Art and Archaeology, Toronto.Google Scholar
Pohl, Mary D., and Pohl, John D. 1983 Ancient Maya Cave Rituals. Archaeology 36(3):28-32, 50–51.Google Scholar
Pohl, Mary D., Pope, Kevin O., Jones, John G., Jacob, John S., Piperno, Dolores R., deFrance, Susan D., Lentz, David L., Gifford, John A., Danforth, Marie E., Kathryn Kosserand, J. 1996 Early Agriculture in the MayaLowlands. Latin American Antiquity 7:355–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popper, Virgina S. 1988 Selecting Quantitative Measurements in Paleoethnobotany. In Current Paleoethnobotany: Analytical Methods and Cultural Interpretations of Archaeological Plant Remains, edited by Christine A. Hastorf and Virginia S. Popper, pp. 53–71. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Prufer, Keith M. 2002 Communities, Caves, and Ritual Specialists: A Study of Sacred Space in the Maya Mountains of Southern Belize. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Rappaport, Roy A. 1979 Ecology, Meaning, and Religion. North Atlantic Books, Richmond, California.Google Scholar
Redfield, Robert, and Rojas, Alphonso Villa 1934 Chan Kom: A Maya Village. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Reents-Budet, Dorie J., and MacLeod, Barbara 1997 The Archaeology of Petroglyph Cave, Cayo District, Belize. Manuscript on file, Department of Archaeology, Belmopan, Belize.Google Scholar
Rival, Laura 1993 The Growth of Family Trees: Understanding Huaoram Perceptions of the Forest. Man 28:638–652.Google Scholar
Rival, Laura (editor) 1998 The Social Life of Trees: Anthropological Perspectives on Tree Symbolism. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Roys, Ralph L. 1931 The Ethno-Botany of the Maya. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Sanmiguel, Inés 1994 A Ceremony in the ‘Caveofldolatry’: An Eighteenth-Century Document from the Diocesan Historic Archive, Chiapas, Mexico. In Sacred Sites, Sacred Places, edited by David L. Carmichael, Jane Hubert, Brian Reeves, and Audhild Schanche, pp. 163–171. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, and Miller, Jeffrey H. 1983 The Mirror, the Rabbit, and the Bundle: Accession Expressions from Classic Maya Inscriptions. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology No. 25. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Shanks, Michael, and Hodder, Ian 1995 Processual, Postprocessual, and Interpretive Archaeologies. In Interpreting Archaeology: Finding Meaning in the Past, edited by Ian Hodder, Michael Shanks, and Alexandra Alexandri, Victor Buchli, John Carman, Jonathon Last, and Gavin Lucas, pp. 3–29. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Steinberg, Michael K. 1999 Maize Diversity and Cultural Change in a Maya Agroecological Landscape. Journal of Ethnobiology 19:127–139.Google Scholar
Stone, Andrea J. 1989 The Painted Walls of Xibalba: Maya Cave Painting as Evidence of Cave Ritual. In Word and Image in Maya Culture: Explorations in Language, Writing, and Representation, edited by William F. Hanks and Don S. Rice. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Stone, Andrea J. 1995 Images from the Underworld: Naj Tunich and the Tradition of Maya Cave Painting. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Stone, Andrea J. 1997 Precolumbian Cave Utilization in the Maya Area. In Human Use of Caves, edited by Clive J. Bonsall and Christopher Tolan-Smith, pp. 201–206. BAR International Series 667. Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
Stross, Brian 1997 Mesoamerican Copal Resins. U Mut Maya 6:177–186.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 1998 “The Fire Enters His House”: Architecture and Ritual in Classic Maya Texts. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 373–425. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1989 The Maize Tamale in Classic Maya Diet, Epigraphy, and Art. American Antiquity 54:31–51.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 1998 The Jade Hearth: Centrality, Rulership, and the Classic Maya Temple. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 373–425. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 2002 Flower Mountain: Concepts of Life, Beauty, and Paradise among the Classic Maya. Paper presented at the Naturaleza y Sociedad en el Área Maya, Merida, México.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Barbara 1982 Time and the Highland Maya. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Dennis 1985 The Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1930 Ethnology of the Mayas of Southern and Central British Honduras. Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series 17:23–213.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1970 Maya History and Religion. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1988 The Maya of Belize: Historical Chapters Since Columbus. Cubola Productions, Belize City.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred M. 1941 Landa's Relación de las Cosas de Yucatan. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 18. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Tripplett, Kirsten J. 1999 The Ethnobotany of Plant Resins in the Maya Cultural Region of Southern Mexico and Central America. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Botany, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Turner, Billie L., and Miksicek, Charles H. 1984 Economic Plant Species Associated with Prehistoric Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Economic Botany 38:179–193.Google Scholar
Turner, Victor W. 1969 The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Vogt, Evon Z. 1969 Zinacantan: A Maya Community in the Highlands of Chiapas. The Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogt, Evon Z. 1976 Tortillas for the Gods: A Symbolic Analysis of Zinacantan Rituals. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Wagley, Charles H. 1949 The Social and Religious Life of a Guatemalan Village. Memoirs No. 71. American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Walker, William H., and Lucero, Lisa J. 2000 The Depositional History of Ritual and Power. In Agency in Archaeology, edited by Marcia A. Dobres and Jon Robb, pp. 130–147. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Watanabe, John M. 1992 Maya Saints and Souls in a Changing World. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Wiesen, Anne, and Lentz, David L. 1999 Preclassic Floral Remains at Cahal Pech and Pacbitun, Belize: Summary Report. In Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1996 and 1997 Field Seasons, edited by P. F. Healy, pp. 53–67. Occasional Papers No. 12. Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
Wisdom, Charles 1940 The Chorti Indians of Guatemala. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar