The Cave-Pyramid Complex among the Contemporary Nahua of Northern Veracruz (Alan R. Rites of Passage and Other Ceremonies in Caves (Doris Heyden)
Introduction: A History of Mesoamerican Cave Interpretation (James E. It confirms that the indigenous religious system of Mesoamerica was and still is much more terrestrially focused that has been generally appreciated.
As a whole, the collection validates cave study as the cutting edge of scientific investigation of indigenous ritual and belief. Some reports present detailed site studies, while others offer new theoretical understandings of cave rituals. Organized geographically, the book examines cave use in Central Mexico, Oaxaca, and the Maya region. This volume gathers papers from twenty prominent Mesoamerican archaeologists, linguists, and ethnographers to present a state-of-the-art survey of ritual cave use in Mesoamerica from Pre-Columbian times to the present. Many ancient settlements were located in proximity to caves. So important were caves to the pre-Hispanic peoples that they are mentioned in Maya hieroglyphic writing and portrayed in the Central Mexican and Oaxacan pictorial codices. From ancient times to the present, Mesoamericans have made pilgrimages to caves for ceremonies ranging from rituals of passage to petitions for rain and a plentiful harvest. As portals to the supernatural realm that creates and animates the universe, caves have always been held sacred by the peoples of Mesoamerica.