Ritual Cave Use and Late Postclassic Miniature Masonry Shrines of the Yucatan Peninsula

Karl James Lorenzen, Ph.D.1

Summary

Research completed in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2001 at the site of El Naranjal2 in northern

Quintana Roo, Mexico, documented 12 Late Postclassic (A.D. 1250 to 1520) miniature masonry

shrine complexes associated with the ritual reuse and modification of Early Classic monumental

architecture. Material culture from these shrine/stairway/altar complexes set atop abandoned

megalithic platforms at El Naranjal, reveal their use as religious loci for the performance of

Postclassic water rites and related rituals. In particular, archaeological data indicates that

Structure 21 at El Naranjal, in conjunction with Structure 2 (supporting 2 diminutive shrines),

functioned as an important water-shrine complex during the Late Postclassic; linked together by

Sakbeh 1, a raised stone-paved road. These data substantially enhance our knowledge of Late

Postclassic (A.D. 1250 – 1520) miniature masonry shrines and interestingly, their connection to

prominent water sources – a poorly understood and little recognized water-oriented pattern

found at sites throughout the Maya region. Furthermore, this investigation underscores the

relevance and applicability of ethnohistoric and modern ethnographic accounts in the

interpretation of Late Postclassic Maya religion. Together, this information contributes to wider

discussions of ancient Maya religious practice, addressing questions regarding the role of

miniature masonry shrines in the physical and spiritual manipulation of Postclassic sacred

landscapes; the connection of these diminutive structures to centrally placed monumental

1 Assistant Director, URC/CARE Programs, 2109-B Life Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles,
California 90095-1606. Email: karll@lifesci.ucla.edu. Phone: 310-825-9277.

2 Various names are used in different reports to refer to the archaeological site and ejido of El Naranjal. In earlier
reports, “Tumben-Naranjal” is used to differentiate the contemporary village of El Naranjal from its archaeological
component. However, for purposes here, “El Naranjal” indicates the archaeological site itself and where noted, the
modern village as well.
architecture; and the incorporation of sacred caves, evidenced by speleothems found in Late

Postclassic shrine contexts (Figure 1).

Miniature Masonry Shrines

Research at El Naranjal2 began under the auspices of the Yalahau Regional Human

Ecology Project in 1993, co-directed by Scott Fedick and Karl Taube, University of California,

Riverside. Proyecto Tumben-Naranjal commenced in 1996, following two field seasons with the

Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project. Archaeological survey and documentation at El

Naranjal identified 12 shrine complexes within a two square-kilometer core on Structures 2, 3, 5,

7, 9, 14, 18, and 21 (Lorenzen 1995, 2003; Figure 9). Data from four field seasons was used to

address issues of shrine use, function, and evidence of ritual paraphernalia and other cultural

remains incorporated in rites carried out at these shrine complexes.

Miniature shrines are diminutive structures less than two meters square in each dimension

and too small to accommodate a person of the most modest stature (Figure 2). Commonly, these

buildings are one-room constructions featuring single entrances made of masonry and mortar, and

plastered with thick layers of limestone stucco. Shrine roofs are masonry vaulted or flat, and

composed of wood-beams capped with limestone mortar, mixed with sand or another aggregate

such as small fresh-water snail shell. Variations of the formal “all-masonry” shrine include those

with walls and ceilings constructed of wood-pole and palm-thatch, depictions of which are seen

in the Dresden, Madrid and Paris codices (Lorenzen 2003; Figure 3).3 Diminutive shrines were

frequently founded on limestone bedrock, very low single-course footings, formal raised

3 Though not treated in this discussion, a less common type of miniature shrine, termed “three-in-one” or
composite shrines by Andrews and Andrews (1975), are larger structures which contain a series of progressively
smaller shrines, one within the other (Figure 4). See Andrews (1993) for a detailed discussion of Late Postclassic
lowland Maya archaeology and Andrews and Andrews (1975) for an extensive survey of Late Postclassic sites along
the coast of Quintana Roo, focused on the documentation of miniature masonry shrines; their context, construction
and architectural variation.
platforms, or atop abandoned architecture (Figures 3 and 4; Lorenzen 1995, 1999). Directly

associated with miniature shrines are stone altars set at the foot of shrine stairways or on the

summit of basal platforms, placed in front of shrines or immediately off to one side of these

structures (Figure 5). Typically, Late Postclassic altars are made of four thin, vertically set skirt-

stones that veneer each side of a squared plug-stone. Multi-tiered altars exhibit progressively

smaller stone blocks stacked one on top of the other (documented at El Naranjal as part of

several shrine complexes). Stacked altars at El Naranjal and other regional sites mirror altars

depicted in the Dresden Codex, modeling stepped-pyramids in miniature (Lorenzen 1995).

Although diminutive shrines occur widely in civic-ceremonial and residential contexts at

sites throughout the Maya lowlands, relatively little is known regarding their function, role and

significance in Late Postclassic Maya society. Smashed ceramic human-effigy censers, commonly

known to as Chen Mul Modeled (Robles-Castellanos 1990), often litter shrine floors, doorways

and areas surrounding associated altars.4 In addition, a number of shrine caches have been found

to contain water and fertility-related offerings such as marine shell, nude figurines, jade beads and

pendants, and stingray spines. Moreover, stalactites and stalagmites (speleothems – the

significance of which is discussed later) have also been discovered in shrine caches as well in

associated altar midden (Lorenzen 1995, 1999, 2003; Martos-Lopez 1994, 1995, 1997).

Archaeologists agree, at least for shrines in elite residential compounds, that these structures

were ritual areas for the performance of private, lineage-based religious rites (A. Smith 1962;

Smith 1971; Freidel and Sabloff 1984; Chase 1986, 1988; Masson 1997); however, identical

4 As I believe, in many instances, generic depictions of humans (composing the bulk of Chen-
Mul Modeled censerware) represent deceased ancestors and were used in shrines rites that
incorporated the veneration of prominent lineage figures who were likely considered semi-divine
and served as intermediaries between living descendants and major Maya gods and lesser deities;
particularly, those that controlled agricultural abundance and the availability of game. See
Lorenzen (2003) for a detailed discussion of human-effigy censers and their significance in Late
Postclassic Maya ritual and religion.
structures in exclusively nonresidential public precincts have, for the most part, been ignored

because of their diminutive size and supposed unimportance in the search for more substantial

Classic-period construction (Lothrop 1924; Proskouriakoff 1955, 1962; Andrews and Andrews

1975, 1980; Miller 1982; Andrews 1993). Although it is known that these shrines served a

religious function, the exact sort and degree of their use remains elusive and thus, is addressed

herein (Figures 7 and 30).

Structure 21 – A Late Postclassic Water Shrine

Located at the northern tip of the civic-ceremonial center at El Naranjal, Structure 21 rests

on a low rubble mound situated at the margin of a permanent wetland. Oriented along a northeast

trajectory, the wetland and diminutive shrine are linked to the site center by Sakbeh 1, which

ends at the base of a massive megalithic platform (Structure 2) supporting two Late Postclassic

miniature masonry shrines. Fronting Structure 21 are two altars set at plaza-level, between the

shrine stairway and terminus of the causeway. Systematic basal excavations around the shrine

platform of Structure 21, revealed the remains of ritual paraphernalia including ceramic sherds

from shattered Chen-Mul Modeled human-effigy censers, stone beads, marine shell, obsidian

prismatic blade fragments, and most interestingly, speleothems (Lorenzen 1999, 2003).

Numerous small speleothems were found in altar midden at the base of the shrine stairway,

extending several meters beyond the two altars (Lorenzen 1999, 2003; Lorenzen and Rissolo

2001; Lorenzen and Wiewall 2001). Unexpectedly, this discovery adds to an earlier find in 1993

of a large speleothem documented among the structural collapse of a miniature masonry shrine on

Structure 2 (Figure 9; Lorenzen 1995, 1999, 2003). At the time, this discovery was thought to be

unique; however, data from Structure 21, in addition to the subsequent discovery of speleothems

in shrine altar midden at Structures 7, 9 and 14, established the ritual use of speleothems in shrine

contexts at El Naranjal. Augmenting this data is the discovery of a sub-floor speleothem cache
(along with numerous pieces of jade, carved marine shell and seven female ceramic figurines) by

Adam B. Pacheo (INAH-DF) in 2001, found at the Late Postclassic shrine atop Structure 14.

Moreover, during Proyecto Tumben-Naranjal 2001, a large speleothem broken into four

fragments was found strewn in front of the entrance of Shrine N-Sh.1 on Structure 2, the same

location where the first speleothem was discovered in 1993 (Figure 10; Lorenzen 1995).

Extensive burn marks on the cortex of this speleothem and its ritual context indicate that it was

directly subjected to fire and ritually spalled, likely in an act to replicate the splitting sound of

thunder in the performance of a Late Postclassic rain ceremony (Lorenzen 2003).5

Critical to understanding the function of these speleothems and particularly, their

presence in non-cave ritual contexts, are survey data from two caves in the immediate vicinity of

El Naranjal (Rissolo 2001). In this survey, Rissolo (1997, 1998, 2001) reported the intentional

breakage and apparent systematic denuding of speleothems from these caves during the Late

Postclassic (indicated by substantial speleothem regrowth following breakage) (Figure 11). A

similar instance of regular speleothem removal was reported in Belize by the Sibun-Manatee

Cave Survey (Polly Peterson, personal communication 1999). As Brady et al. (1997) discuss, the

archaeological context of speleothem use and their perception among modern Maya indicate that

they were strongly associated with rain and fertility. Moreover, speleothems embody the

creative force of sacred caves (Brady 1997: 360). In fact, Bassie-Sweet et al. (2000) recently

documented the ritual collection of speleothems from Jolja’ cave for use in annual rain rites by

the Chol Maya, ritually removed from sacred caves and kept by community members as fetishes

believed to produce rain. The association of speleothems with sacred water and rain is clearly

substantiated by ethnohistoric source material (Barrera Vasquez 1995:121, 123, 946; Bassie-

Sweet 1996:151).

5 Jade (symbolic of rain, preciousness and life) was ritually spalled during rain rituals at Copan and particularly at
the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza (Proskouriakoff 1974: 4; Friedel et al. 1993: 240-246).
Water-Specific Site Patterning

The location and orientation of structures at ancient Maya sites did not occur by

happenstance but instead, reveal a conscious attempt to integrate both the natural landscape and

built environment into a cohesive, ritually significant and mutually informing cultural geography

(Ashmore 1981, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992; Houston and Fowler 1994; Brady 1997; Houston

1998; McAnany 1998; Dunning et al. 1999). As reflected in the precise placement of Structure

21 at El Naranjal, numerous Maya centers exhibit this same form of site patterning – an

apparently widespread ritual practice of orientating architecture to significant onsite water

sources. According to Ashmore (1992:173), it was commonplace for the ancient Maya to use site

configuration, monumental architecture and residential proximity as a means of securing and

reiterating political power and control.6 The ancient Maya deliberately connected monumental

architecture to significant water sources such as springs, cenotes, lakes, lagoons, ocean inlets,

wetlands, rivers and wet caves; via raised roads, causeways, avenues delineated by structures,

and plaza extensions. In essence, this association made sacred the natural landscape and as a

result, imbued prominent geographic features with ritual significance through their intimate

relation to ceremonial centers.

Chichen Itza is the quintessential model of water-specific site patterning, reflected in the

connection of the Castillo (a huge radial pyramid) to the Sacred Cenote, located at opposite ends

of a broad stone-paved causeway divided by a flat radial platform. This avenue terminates at a

miniature water shrine set at the precipice of the sacrificial cenote. Ethnohistoric accounts and

archaeological evidence indicate that this shrine was used for the performance of rain rituals that

6 It should be noted that this specific mode of water-based site patterning is not believed to be the expression of a
highly developed cult of water in and of itself, although a belief system emphasizing the significance of water is
certainly a constituent part; more likely, these patterns reference the integration of the built and natural environment
as reflections of the natural concern for agricultural productivity, general fertility and ultimately, survival.
involved a variety of sacrificial rites (Tozzer 1941; Rupert 1952; Miller 1998). A second cenote

in "old" Chichen, Xtoloc, is likewise linked to a large radial structure by a short sakbeh, which

features a flat radial platform set midway along its length. Unlike the Castillo and Sacred Cenote,

which are oriented to the north, the radial pyramid, sakbeh, and Xtoloc cenote are aligned to the

east (known as the celestial home of Chaak and the cardinal direction most associated with rain in

Prehispanic and contemporary Maya belief – the place where rain storms develop and move

across the Maya region). Intriguingly, the word Xtoloc may represent a Maya corruption of the

Nahuatl term Tlaloc, the name of the Aztec god of rain and lightening. This supposed

transliteration is strengthened when one considers the well-documented interregional contact and

exchange between Central Mexico (in particular, the site of Tula) and Chichen Itza. Thompson

(1904) states that local Maya living in Piste named the cenote toloc. However, since Thompson

provides no definition of the term, toloc may actually be tolok, the Yucatec term for iguana.

Nevertheless, in support of this possible transliteration, Thompson (1904) states further that

several h-men from Piste related that their ancestors called a certain part of the Xtoloc cenote, the

“place of the rain gods.” Moreover, the presence of numerous Tlaloc-style effigy-censers

documented in Cave Balankanche at Chichen Itza, further secures this interpretation (Andrews

1970: 9, 12, Figure 5; Bonor 1989: 110, Figure 28).

Another clear model of this specialized form of site patterning is evident at Dzibilchaltun.

In the civic-ceremonial core, a long intra-site sakbeh connects Structure 1 (a radial pyramid) with

a large cenote in the very center of the site (Andrews and Andrews 1980). As at Chichen Itza, a

radial platform (Structure 12) is located on the sakbeh, near its center point. The direct

connection of Structure 1 with a major water source, the fact that Structure 1 is oriented exactly

east, the discovery of water-related cache deposits buried around the basal platform of Structure

1, and the depiction of God H (a deity associated with wind/water), incised in stucco on an

exterior wall of the structure, all point to its use as a water temple for the performance of rain
rituals (Andrews and Andrews 1980: 82-127; 101, Figure 110 [inadvertently published on its

side]; Taube 1992:56-64).

These examples represent only several instances of many, replicated at site after site

throughout the Maya region. Obviously, this specialized form of site patterning based on the

incorporation of monumental structures located in the heart of Maya civic-ceremonial centers

(representing the axis mundi or middle place), sakbehob radiating from centrally placed structures

(frequently oriented east), and prominent sources of water, represent a ritually significant aspect

and essential component of ancient Maya site organization in the integration of the built and

natural sacred landscape.

Speleothems and the Perception of Sacred Water

Zuhuy ha or sacred water, also described as "virgin" for its purity, is thought by the

Maya to be a potent liquid substance, drawn from pools of pristine cave water for use in various

rites related to rainmaking, agricultural abundance and fertility (Redfield and Villa-Rojas

1934:138-143; Thompson 1960:27; Pohl and Pohl 1983; Love 1984; Bonor 1989; Freidel et al.

1993:29-58; Brady 1997; Brady et al. 1997). Evidence for the association of sacred caves with

agricultural rites and rain ritual is documented at numerous caves in the Yucatan peninsula

(Strömsvik 1956; Strömsvik et al. 1955; Thompson 1960: 27, 1975; Andrews 1970; Bonor 1989;

Rissolo 1995, 1998, 2001; Rissolo and Heidelberg 1998). This connection is based on the extant

presence of water jars, rain-god effigy censers, metates, manos and haltuns (stone-carved basins)

recorded at numerous caves throughout the Yucatan peninsula.7 The gradual formation process of

stalactites, stalagmites and other cave features involves the accretion of minerals leached from the

limestone by dripping and running cave water. Thus, the presence of speleothems in shrine
7 7 Haltuns were used as containers for the collection of sacred water, set either under the drip-line or directly
beneath stalactites to catch drip water – likely perceived as drops of sacred rain, as documented among the Mixtec
by Monaghan (1995).
contexts contributes to the premise presented here of their incorporation in Late Postclassic rain

rituals and related agricultural fertility rites.

Several Colonial-period dictionaries provide striking evidence regarding this

interpretation. The Cordemex defines stalactite (ch'ak xix for the Colonial Vienna dictionary) as

“water distilled in a well or cave (stalactite), or “agua destilada en pozo o cueva [estalactita],"

where as the Pio Perez glosses the term “water that trickles/drips, distilled in natural (stone)

vaults/arched roofs or caverns that cover cenotes (petrification that forms where these drops fall)

or "el agua que gotea destilándose en las bóvedas naturales or cavernas que cubren los cenotes [la

petrificación que se va formando donde caen estas gotas]" (note that the verb destilar also means

"to ooze, trickle, or drip," clearly the meaning intended here (Barrera Vasquez 1995 123). Other

terms such as ch'ah, xix ha' tunich, and ob'ak xix (along with the Motul gloss for xix) define these

words similarly, referencing forms of hardened water (Barrera Vasquez 1995 121, 946). These

definitions and other inferences not only identify speleothems as solid, concentrated forms of

sacred water but also more importantly, reveal that they were considered its original source

(Bassie-Sweet 1996 151).

The thought of speleothems as generators of zuhuy ha is corroborated by the ancient

Maya use of haltunob (carved stone basins) and ollas recovered archaeologically from wet caves.

Haltunob have been documented as ritual collection devices for sacred drip water, evidenced by

stone basins and ollas found in situ directly beneath stalactites and other cave formations

(Thompson 1897: 15; Pendergast 1971; Mercer 1975: 25-27, 101-102, 149; Stone 1995: 17-19,

Figure 2-5; McNatt 1996; Rissolo 2001). In a particularly pertinent example, Mercer (1975:25-

27) reports two haltunob carved from living stalagmites, in a clear demonstration of speleothems

as the sacred source of zuhuy ha. Moreover, Rissolo (2001) recorded a number of haltunob and

ollas positioned beneath the drip-line for the obvious collection of seep water, as well as found in
Caves Xux and Maas near El Naranjal. Like Rissolo (2001), I am convinced that the presence of

haltunob and ollas in conjunction with nearby cave pools exhibit incontrovertible evidence for the

ritual collection of sacred water, opposed to the fulfillment of utilitarian concerns. In fact, these

devices demonstrate that drip water from speleothems was actually preferred over standing

water as a source of zuhuy ha, implying that the ancient Maya considered drip water

“exceptional,” as if catching drops of sacred rain (see Monaghan 1995: 97-117). The suggestion

that stone basins and water jars functioned as collectors of sacred rainwater is clearly confirmed

by the etymology of haltun, as defined by the Pio Perez dictionary, “rock hollow or cavity were

rain water is deposited” ["el hueco o concavidad de la peña en que se deposita el agua que llueve"]

(Barrera Vasquez 1995: 177).

The recent discovery of a Late Classic vase from an elite burial at Copan further

substantiates the idea that the ancient Maya thought of speleothems as generators of sacred

water in petrified form. Barbara Fash (personal communication 1999) identified two

representations of stylized speleothems, shown as opposed stepped-symbols in a scene that

appears to recreate the context of a sacred cave. Inside these symbols are cauac (stone) markings,

which Fash interprets as dripstone formations (see Fash and Davis, this volume). The tapered

shape of these stepped motifs, the dripstone or cauac markings, and the fact that stepped

symbols typically reference water as well as mountains in Mesoamerican thought (the place

most associated with caves and rainmaking), in this context, stylistically rendered speleothems

are understood. In this scene, rivulets of water stream in droplets from the tip of the stylized

stalactite and fall toward the opposed stalagmite below, suggesting the actual production or

creation of zuhuy ha.

Similar repetitive stepped-motifs (apart from the well-known stacked water motif) are

painted on the rim of a vase-sherd recovered from Cave C in the Rio Frio group near Benque

Viejo, Belize, in a like representation of dripstone markings, (Mason 1927: 37, Figure 24).
Additional stepped-motifs are also depicted on numerous water jars recovered from caves,

cenotes, wells and other ritual contexts at Uxmal, Kabah, Chichen Itza, Mayapan and the Gruta

de Chaak - described as tau or terrace and scroll motifs (Mercer 1975: xli; Smith 1971a: 59, 61;

1971b: 76, 78, Figures 52-h, 53-19; Smyth 1998). Given that ollas were frequently used to

collect zuhuy ha from dripstone cave formations and pools of standing water for use in rain rites,

water-related symbols painted on the exterior necks and bodies of these water vessels may

reference this ritual act.

Additional evidence comes from Cave Balankanche near Chichen Itza, where Andrews

(1970: 9, 12, Figure 5) reported the presence of 95 human-effigy censers depicting the Central

Mexican rain deity Tlaloc, clustered in front of speleothem columns, beneath stalactites and set

inside niches carved from living cave formations adjacent to pools of zuhuy ha (Bonor 1989: 110,

Figure 28). Andrews (1970: 9) states that out of six areas in Cave Balankanche, each locus of

rain-god censers were

...clearly offertory. All are directly associated with either underground bodies of
water or striking stalagmitic formations (in which the cave is rich), which were
apparently correctly interpreted by the ancients as phenomena attributable to the
action of water. Scattered offertory material was similarly located beside or under
prominent stalactitic formations. The association of all objects of an offertory
nature with water or its manifestations is obvious.

The arrangement of rain-god censers fronting cave formations near standing pools of water is

replicated at Cave Balam Ku, in the immediate vicinity of Chichen Itza (Segovia Pinto 1966).

Other wet caves and cenotes in the northern Maya lowlands feature interior shrines or platforms

adjacent to pools of water such as those at Mayapan, Tancah and Xcaret. This arrangement

indicates the Prehispanic performance of religious rites related to the ritual use of cave water

(Lothrop 1924; Pollock et al. 1962; Andrews and Andrews 1975).

The Yalahau Regional Cave Survey completed by Rissolo (1995, 1998, 2001; Rissolo and

Heidelberg 1998), not only documents the ritual use of caves as reflected in the presence of
platform shrines, propitiatory altars and ritual ceramic scatters at Caves Maas, Pak Chen and

Toh (Rissolo 2001: 50, 197, 203), but also reports the deliberate modification of natural cave

features related to water rites. At Actun Tacbi Ha, near the site center of El Naranjal, ritual

modifications to natural cave features are clearly reflected in a stairway constructed of large

speleothem risers that lead to an ancient pool of zuhuy ha (Rissolo 1995, 1998, 2001: 1999;

Rissolo and Heidelberg 1998: 174) (Figure 12).

Stone Phalli, Fertility Metaphor and Rain Ritual

Given these inferences and the well-known Mesoamerican concept of mountain-caves as

earth wombs where only men penetrate to collect “virgin” water for rain rites and other

ceremonies, one may extend the symbolism of dripping speleothems to suggest that stalactites in

their physical form were seen as tumescent members that ooze zuhuy ha as semen. In fact,

during contemporary Maya ceremonial procession, priests consume a ritual drink made of ground

maize called sa’ (also saka’ or sak-ha’ - literally, white water), a watery corn-gruel. The

connection of sak-ha’ to semen, apart from its obvious similarity in color and consistency, is

reflected in the 16th Century San Francisco dictionary where sa’ as a component of sa’il mak’

means “semen” (Barrera Vasquez 1995: 707, 709) or “man’s atole” (Karl Taube, personal

communication 2003). The Tzotzil Maya drink an identical hot corn-beverage during annual

ceremonies for incoming mayordomo santos, equated with rain and particularly semen (Gossen

1984: 228-229). Referred to by the same word for semen, this maize-gruel is made in huge water

jars and is thought of by the Tzotzil Maya as “hot heavenly-descending rain.” This ritual

beverage is consumed by shaman-priests and other ceremony participants who receive spiritual
energy or life force in return (Gossen 1984: 228-229).8

In regards to miniature masonry shrines, the presence of stone phalli set erect in front of

shrines at Tulum and a number of other Late Postclassic Maya sites (concentrated in northern

Yucatan), reinforces the association of shrines with fertility, particularly when one considers the

connection of phalli to speleothems and potent zuhuy ha (Lothrup 1924; Amrhein 2000). In a

related and telling instance, a sub-floor cache of seven clay male figurines, all exhibiting

exaggerated erect phalli, were found in a cyst dug through the floor of a Late Postclassic shrine at

Dzibilchaltun (Structure 1) (Andrews and Andrews 1980; Taschek 1994: 183, 204, Figure 49). In

still other imagery, similar sexual allusions are made regarding rain deities, revealing their role as

sources of agricultural fertility. Chaak is frequently shown holding his lightning axe, which is

often represented metaphorically as a zigzagging serpent, itself suggesting a phallic association

(Taube 1989). As discussed in the subsequent section, chaakob are referred to as ah-hoyaob or as

Villa Rojas (1945: 102) modestly translated the term some sixty years ago as “sprinklers.”

However, both the Motul and the Vienna dictionaries define hoya (the singular form) as proveer
8 This concept is reflected in Teotihuacan mural art. During excavations at La Ventilla (Padilla Rodriguez and
Ruiz Zuniga 1995: 173-189, Figures 40-43), a male figure was found painted on a plaza floor, depicted with an
exaggerated penis from which white drops outlined in red, fall from the tip of his erect member in rivulets onto a
flowering maguey below, in an obvious multiple reference to semen, atole and pulque (a fermented beverage made
from the maguey or century plant – akin the Maya bark-beer balche’), metaphorically seen as fertilizing rain.
According to Karl Taube (personal communication 2003) a similar scence at El Tajin depicts the act of plant
fertilization involving drops of pulque in the form of semen. The relation of semen to rain is clearly present in
modern Mixtec religious ideology, particularly in rites of rain and agricultural fertility (Monaghan 1989). As such,
Monaghan (1995: 111) stated that the Mixtec

. . . associate rain production with symbols of masculine sexuality. The machete,

associated with lightning and the nu’un savi (rain god), is a powerful symbol of male
potency [as is Chaak and his lightning axe] and the cigars smoked by the tenuvi to bring
rain [as with the chaakob among the Tusik Maya; Villa Rojas 1945] are metaphors for
the penis (Monaghan 1989). Given these associations, it is not surprising that people
liken rain to semen.

This relation of rain to semen is represented archaeologically in graphic representations of rain drops as falling
phalli incised in boulder outcrops at Chalcatzingo that in one example, descend from above, falling around a royal
female personage depicted in Olmec-style, seated inside a wet cave studded with sprouting vegetation (corn) at
[cardinal] points on its exterior (Angulo Villaseñor 1987; Grove 1987; Karl Taube, personal communication 2003).
la orina, orinar o orina (to provide urine, to urinate or urine) (Barrera Vasquez ibid.: 236). This

definition reveals that the ah-hoyaob were actually called “urinators” as opposed to “sprinklers.”

This literal translation lends another sexual aspect to rain deities, insinuated by the equation of

fertile rain to urine as sprinkling from the penis to water the land. Sexual referents to rain deities

as distributors of rain and by extension, agricultural fertility, are also reflected in hoy, translated

as “virile [particularly fertile] semen” (Barrera Vasquez 1995: 236). As a component of ah-

hoyaob, this play on words is apparent, meant to explicitly relate rain [as urine] to semen.

Moreover, this concept is referred to architecturally at Uxmal in the House of the Phalli, where

stone penises are set into the cornice of the structure, serving as rain spouts that metaphorically

transforming torrents of falling water into cascading streams of urine as the rainwater is channeled

off the temple roof and funneled through phallic drains (Pollock 1980: 257-262; Ruz Lhuillier

1978: 50-51; Amrhein 2000).

Just as rain alludes to semen and male urine, other bodily fluids including human blood are

also perceived as such, lending an additional fertile aspect to rainwater. Landa (Tozzer 1941:

113-114) recounts a group auto sacrificial rite involving the perforation of male foreskins and the

running through of long thick ropes that linked all participants together. This rite is represented

on page 19b of the Madrid Codex, where in the center of a courtyard, Itsamnaj is poignantly

shown letting blood from the tip of his penis over a sacrificial turtle stone (exhibiting a phallus

glyph on its back) in front of a miniature shrine.9 A long red rope runs from the phallus of

Itsamnaj, passing through the foreskin of Chaak (blue) and three other directionally-colored

deities (red, black and white), each set at the four corners of the plaza. In other references by

Landa, blood letted from the male foreskin is scattered on the ground (Tozzer 1941: 113-114,
9 This architectural arrangement is reflected archaeologically at Mayapan, where turtle stone-altars (calendrical
katun stones) are set in the middle of elite residential compound-courtyards associated directly associated with
lineage shrines (Karl Taube, personal communication 2003). Taube (1989) has shown that these katun-stones served
as sacrificial altars for the shedding and offering of penile blood to the gods (likely for revered ancestors as well
during lineage-related rites).
Note 522) and particularly so, following the appearance of lightning – an undoubted reference to

rain (Tozzer 1941: 113-114, Note 525). These accounts illustrate the intimate affiliation of penile

blood to semen and by extension, infer the fertilizing force of rain as it penetrates the earth.10

Ch’a Chaak and Tupp-Kak Ceremonies

Ch’a Chaak

Much of Late Postclassic Maya ceremony is inferred from ethnohistoric and

ethnographic source information and at times, even reconstructed from archaeological data

corroborated by this evidence. This approach allows for a better understanding of ritual activities

performed at Postclassic shrines and other religious contexts. One of the most important

contemporary Maya ceremonies that may directly impact our discernment of ritual activities

performed at miniature masonry shrines is the ch’a chaak rain ritual – ch’a signifying “the

deification of” Chaak (Barrera-Vasquez 1995: 119). This ceremony is practiced throughout the

northern Maya lowlands during the canícular – a short dry spell frequently associated with

drought midway through the growing season, just prior to the final maturation of maize (Gann

1916: 42-48; Gann and Thompson 1931: 251-253; Redfield and Villa-Rojas 1934: 138-143;

Widsom 1940; Love 1984; Freidel et al. 1993: 29-58; Arzapalo Marin and Gubler

1997:87-96). The ritual collection of zuhuy ha is an essential component of this ritual, retrieved

from sacred caves and brought to the village in ritual procession. Gourds full of sacred water,

10 Related examples of this practice extend well back into the Classic, where sculptured stelae, glyphs and other
artistic media depict blood “scattering events” portrayed by droplets of blood streaming from the hands of Maya
kings onto the earth below or sprinkled over bowls of rubber-spotted paper and burned with copal incense as a
sweet-smelling offering during lineage-rituals to conjure ancestors (Schele and Miller 1986; Schele and Friedel
1989). Blood scattered on the ground likely portrays a demonstration of the power and fertilizing force of ruling
elite, conveying the fecundity of a ruler and his authority to perpetuate the royal line.
maize gruel or sak-ha (white water) and flat ritual tamales wrapped in banana leaves (wah) are

placed on wood table altars set in the bush or in the center of milpas. These altars are adorned

with lush vegetation arranged in an arc that bows over the table top, representing of the daily

passage of the sun across the heavens.11 The officiating priest called a h-men, along with four

rain assistants or chaaks, mirror the sky positions of Chaak and the chaakob (lesser celestial rain

gods) who control the dispersal of water over the land. During this ritual, amid white clouds of

copal incense and supplication, the h-men sprinkle zuhuy ha toward the world quarters, invoking

the name of Chaak in a petition to dispatch the chaakob (Gann 1916: 42-48; Redfield and Villa

Rojas 1934; Villa Rojas 1945; Love 1984; Freidel et al. 1993: 29-58; Faust 1998: 85-121;

Arzapalo Marin and Gubler 1997: 87-96).12

Tupp-Kak

As related by Landa (Tozzer 1941: 162-163), the tupp-kak was one of the most

important ceremonies dedicated to the gods of sustenance and agricultural abundance (Chaak and

Itsamnaj), and also worked to ensure a prosperous and plentiful year to come. Taking place in

the Uayeb months of Keh and Mak, this rite focused on a fire ceremony that reenacted the

quenching of the burning milpa in preparation for sowing maize. Four chaaks or ritual specialists

were positioned at the corners of an open plaza, each in accordance with a different cardinal

direction (recalling ethnographic accounts of the four chaakob in contemporary ch’a chaak rain

ritual). A mound of dried brush (probably collected from the milpa) was set on fire in the center

11 Redfield and Villa Rojas (1934: 131) note the involvement of four boys during a ch’a chaak ceremony at Chan
Kom, Yucatan. Each boy was seated beneath one of the four legs of the altar (according to the world directions),
imitating the croaking sound of toads during rainstorms in an attempt to induce Chaak to send rain. Tozzer (1907:
162) notes a similar performance among the Lacandon that included the imitation of frog calls by all male
participants in the ceremony. Moreover, the Chorti incorporate a wooden canoe in their rain ceremony, seen as a
symbol of abundant water (many times stylistically referenced as a stepped water-motif in ancient Maya art).

12
of the plaza. Hearts excised from game animals were offered to these deities amid the burning

brush. Mock hearts fashioned from copal resin were made to represent larger game such as jaguar,

puma and crocodile when in short supply. Following these sacrifices, each chaak moved toward

the center of the plaza, holding an olla full of water (quite possibly zuhuy ha). This act likely

reenacted the flight of chaakob as they soared across the sky distributing sacred water from rain

gourds – a Prehispanic version of this ethnographic account, played out in ritual performance.

When at the center, all together the priests communally extinguished the ceremonial fire.

Following this ceremony, a festival commenced (Tozzer 1941: 163). A small stone

mound was constructed in the plaza center and adorned with fresh branches (akin to decorated

table-altars used in modern ch’a chaak rain ceremonies) (Tozzer 1941: 164-165). This mound of

stone signified the terrestrial plane as a sacred mountain in miniature, a potent symbol of

creation, water and fertility. Mud drawn from a sacred well was spread over the first step of the

stairway (the surface of the earth) and the upper risers were subsequently painted blue (as one

would ascend a temple into the sky where the rain gods dwell). The festival concluded with the

petitioning of Chaak and Itsamnaj for a new-year of abundance. Given these similarities to the

ch’a chaak, I suggest that the tupp-kak may represent the Prehispanic antecedent of this rite. As

such, ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts such as these provide invaluable information for

tracing the continuity of Late Postclassic religious practice from the ancient Maya past to the

present day.

Prehispanic agricultural fertility was overseen, controlled and maintained by a host of

supernaturals, mostly composed of creator gods and other deities tied to regeneration such as

Chaak, Itsamnaj (the aged creator god), and God E (the maize god) (Taube 1992). In addition, a

host of subsidiary spirits and ancestral deities, particularly those connected with the welfare of

the milpa, continue to be propitiated today by modern Maya and in many instances as with

Chaak, even retain their pre-contact names (Tozzer 1941: 134-135, 136-138, 139, 148). Yucatec
ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources identify these spirits under the group name yumtzilob or

"fathers/lords/gods - the dignified and worthy ones" (Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934:127-137;

Redfield 1941: 118; Villa Rojas 1945:101-110; Barrera Vasquez 1995: 983). Functioning much in

the same way as chaakob, Villa Rojas (1945: 101) states that these guardians of daily Maya life

continue in their Prehispanic function, having "...power over the forces of nature; who control the

rain and the winds, maintain the fertility of the fields, protect settlements and milpas from malign

influences, and, in short, help the native most directly in his daily struggle for existence."

Among the Tusik Maya of east central Quintana Roo, ah-hoyaob or chaakob ride clouds

across the sky and pour out rain from special gourds called zayabchu or "underlying-current

gourds," filled with super-concentrated rainwater (Villa Rojas 1945: 102). So potent are these

rain gourds that only a small amount of water may be sprinkled for fear of causing a worldwide

deluge, should the entire contents spill (Villa Rojas 1945: 102). Inferred by their name, zayabchu

are used by chaakob to tap the vast underground water source on which the Yucatan peninsula

rests, collected from openings in the earth such as cenotes, wet caves, wetlands and lakes. The

Maya of Chan Kom believe that chaakob are dispatched from Koba and fly west across the

eastern sky, swooping over these water bodies to refill zayabchu’ob from which they pour

zuhuy ha as sacred rain (Redfield and Villa Rojas 1934: 115-116; Redfield 1941: 96). The

Dresden, Madrid and Paris codices all show acts of water dispersal in the pouring of water from

ollas (most commonly by Chaak and Ix Chel), in reference to watering the milpa and by extension

the brining of rain by the chaakob. This concept can be inferred for the ancient Maya back to at

least the Late Classic period, suggested in scenes painted on codex-style bi-chrome vessels that

portray Chaak wearing an inverted olla (frequently shown in stylized form) strung about his
neck.13

Discussion

The identification of Structure 21 at El Naranjal as a Late Postclassic water shrine is

based on two major factors. First, the association of Structure 21 with an extensive permanent

wetland and its direct connection to the largest monumental structure at very center of El

Naranjal, reveals its function as the primary interface and point of integration between the built

and natural environment and more importantly, tell of its importance in the overall plan of the

site - the focal point of the sacred landscape. This organizational “template” in structural

placement, replicated at numerous Maya centers, is thought to be the expression of a highly

developed belief system emphasizing the ritual significance of water, highlighting the natural

concern for agricultural sustainability. Considering the need for agricultural fertility, this belief

was undoubtedly woven into ideological frameworks of survival and thus, reflected the overriding

concern for water and its procurement among the Yucatec Maya who were utterly dependent on

rainfall.

Second, given contact-period ethnohistoric sources that identify the spleothems as solid

forms of sacred water and by extension, rain, and their use in contemporary Maya rain ritual,

speleothems discovered in shrine altar debris at Structure 21 substantiate the identification of this

structure as a water shrine. Research documenting the intentional breakage and regular removal of

speleothems from caves surrounding El Naranjal further supports this identification. This fact

along with the presence of speleothems in shrine midden, reveal the intimate connection of sacred

caves to miniature masonry shrines and specifically, indicate the regular performance of rain
13 As a common element in Classic and later depictions of Chaak (principally seen in stone sculpture, painted vase
scenes, and screen-folding codices), this adornment is more commonly represented as a “flowering” jade necklace,
composed of a large central bead capped with a flat “lip-like” piece (a stylized water jar), and three cylindrical beads
that extend down, each tipped with a small bead representing falling drops of rain (as water is commonly expressed
in ancient Mesoamerican art).
rituals and likely other rites tied to agricultural fertility at Structure 21.

This data substantially enhances our knowledge of Late Postclassic (A.D. 1250 – 1520)

miniature masonry shrine use. Furthermore, this research clearly demonstrates the relevance and

applicability of ethnohistoric and ethnographic source material in the interpretation of Late

Postclassic Maya religion. When considered together, this information lends itself to the

resolution of broader issues of ancient Maya religious practice, addressing questions regarding the

function of miniature masonry shrines in Late Postclassic Maya society; the role of shrines as

fixtures of the built and natural Postclassic landscape; the significance of these diminutive

structures as part of a widespread water-oriented pattern of architectural placement seen

throughout the Maya region; as well as the ritual importance of sacred caves during the Late

Postclassic; particularly, their close affiliation with shrine complexes and the rites performed at

these sacred places.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are due Dominique Rissolo, University of California, Riverside, for sharing

his expertise in cave archaeology, research data from the Yalahau Regional Cave Survey and

valuable comments during the course of writing this paper. Moreover, I wish to express my

personal gratitude to Karl Taube, Karen Bassie, James Brady, Barbara Fash, Patricia McAnany,

and Polly Peterson for providing their professional insight as well as comments referenced herein.

Generous funding for the 1999 field season of Proyecto Tumben-Naranjal was provided by a

project grant awarded by The Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.

(FAMSI Grant No. 98047); a Dissertation Improvement Grant from The National Science

Foundation (NSF SBR-9901369); a 1999 Dissertation Research Grant from the University of

California, UC MEXUS program; and a Humanities Dissertation Research Grant from the
University of California, Riverside. The 2001 field season of Proyecto Tumben-Naranjal was

completed through an expedition grant under the auspices of Unearthing Maya History, awarded

by the Earthwatch Institute. Research presented here was originally conceived and written in-

part as a 1999/2000 Junior Fellow in Pre-Columbian Studies at Dumbarton Oaks Research

Library and Collections, Trustees of Harvard University. Archaeological research for the 1999

and 2001 field seasons of Proyecto Tumben-Naranjal was carried out under official permit issued

to the author by the Consejo de Arqueologia, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia,

Mexico City, Mexico (INAH).

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American Archaeology and Ethnology, No. 18. Harvard University, Cambridge,

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Wisdom, Charles

1940 Chorti Indians of Guatemala. University of Chicago Press. Chicago.

Figure 1: Typical Late Postclassic Shrine, Xelha, Quintana Roo, Mexico (photograph by

Karl James Lorenzen).

Figure 2: Chen Mul Modeled human-effigy censer fragments recovered from Structure 21,

El Naranjal, Quintana Roo, Mexico (photograph by Karl James Lorenzen).

Figure 3: Large speleothem discovered in 1993 from structural collapse of Shrine N-Sh.1,

Structure 2, El Naranjal, Quintana Roo, Mexico (photograph by Karl James

Lorenzen).
Figure 4: Large speleothem core discovered in 2001 by author from structural collapse of

Shrine N-Sh.1, Structure 2, El Naranjal, Quintana Roo, Mexico (photograph by

Karl James Lorenzen).

Figure 5: Example of intentional speleothem breakage at caves surrounding El Naranjal,

Quintana Roo, Mexico (photograph by Dominique Rissolo).