Caves may have been the most sacred places in
the ancient Maya landscape, representing the entrance to
Xibalbá (the
underworld), but up until two decades ago, they had been all but
ignored by archaeologists. Almost all
Maya sites had Tall Temples
and subterraneous passages under them,
a recreation of the
Maya
Cosmology, notably, important sites as
Cancuén
that have Pyramid
shape Mountains and Caves (Candelaria and San Francisco) nearby,
lack these tall Temples, being a confirmation of the importance of
these two features in the Maya city planning, Others as
Gu’marcaj’
in Quiché have man made caves
The most typical colours found in the Cave
Art
are black and red. Visual inspection suggests that black was usually
derived from charcoal, although other black pigments, like manganese
may have been used. The red (usually an orange-red) comes from iron-rich
clays found in the caves themselves, as well as ground hematite (a
bright, deep red). Yellow and blue are rare, the former occurring at
Cueva de las Pinturas
in Petén,
Guatemala. Maya caves also contain
graffiti
and positive and stencilled handprints and, more rarely, footprints,
both
positive and negative. Sculpted cave art constitutes the other
major group. Rock carvings, or petro glyphs, are made by incising,
abrading, and pecking, the most common techniques employed in the
production of Maya cave sculpture. Another class of cave sculpture
includes three-dimensional images modelled in crude clay, a rare
and very fragile art form. Indeed, these sculptures are frequently
destroyed not long after discovery.
The pigment-based and sculpted cave art,
exhibit differences that go well beyond the use of different media
and techniques; in fact, they vary so dramatically that they seem to
have different motivations as well as different artistic sources.
Pigment-based art is more likely to follow the pictorial conventions
of
Maya high art. Paintings typically portray symbols and
naturalistic forms, particularly animals and humans, seen in the
scribal art tradition, such as in pottery painting and monumental
relief sculpture. While a small percentage of the sculpted cave art
also was inspired by elite Maya art, the bulk of it is technically
crude and seems to lie outside of the high art tradition. For
instance, cave petro glyphs often consist of meandering geometric
patterns and simple frontal faces, nothing at all like the grand
sculptures of the great Classic Maya cities. The crudeness and
inscrutable designs of Maya cave sculpture do not make it any less
important, however, as evidence of past human behaviour. Indeed, the
diversity of sources and styles of Maya cave art is a signal of the
cave’s functional complexity in
Maya society.
Guatemala has a vast number of caves,
especially in
Petén and the
Verapaz regions, and certainly there are
more waiting to be uncovered, some Caves are still used by the local
Maya descendants as Sacred and worship places. During the Maya era,
the
caves had two main uses, one of particular or familiar worship
in which the individual go to make petition to the gods and for this,
they used every day use pottery that were shredded and always remove
one piece of it that was placed in other part of the cave, and a
community worship in witch
Ceremonial pottery
and altars were used.
Several Obsidian
and Jade objects
are also found as offers in these caves. To this date, only few Caves have been thoroughly investigated, and
have permanent vigilance, to prevent looting and vandalism. We will
try to mention just a few of them. See
Petén Caves,
Alta Verapaz Caves
and the
Maya
Caves Gallery
For more information on Maya Caves go to:
http://www.mesocave.org
