Primary and Secondary Deposition of Subadult Bones - Activation and Purification of Ritual Spaces Within Caves
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Publication Date
8-1-2019
Publication Title
California Anthropologist
Volume Number
31-32
Abstract
In "Paleodemographics of Child Sacrifice at Midnight Terror Cave: Reformulating the Emphasis of Maya Sacrificial Practices", Prout and Brady (2018) interpret a stacked arrangement of bones in Operation V Lot 1 at Midnight Terror Cave (MTC) as representing secondary deposition. They propose that this resulted from the cleaning of public ritual spaces of bones from previous sacrifices. Ann Scott (2009) documented the fact that modern Maya ritual specialists sweep an area to animate the space and to cleanse the area of any negative forces. This paper provides osteological evidence supporting the interpretation that skeletal remains in Lot 1 had been relocated from other areas of the cave.
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Prout, Michael, "Primary and Secondary Deposition of Subadult Bones - Activation and Purification of Ritual Spaces Within Caves" (2019). KIP Articles. 8255.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/8255
