Belize CAVES BRANCH CAVE, NOHOCH CHE’EN RESERVE

ABOVE: A view of the outside world from within the Cave's Branch cave.

By Dr. Jaime Awe
Director, Institute of Archaeology

The Archaeology of Caves Branch Cave

Archaeological investigations in Caves Branch Cave indicate that the ancient Maya utilized the site for several hundred years. Between 300 and 900 A.D., they made regular pilgrimages to the site in an effort to petition their gods to nourish their fields, to provide bountiful crops, game and sustenance, and to request stability in their volatile universe.

To both the ancient and modern Maya, caves represent entrances into the underworld. Known as Metnal or Xibalba, caves served as the abode of powerful and capricious gods, and were both places of death, and of creation. Deities that influenced life and death, those that controlled rain, and agricultural fertility, all resided in these dark, mysterious but sacred places. To ensure that the rain god Chac would bring life giving rains, it was expected that people would provide him with prescribed ritual offerings. In caves where the quality of preservation is excellent, archaeologist have noted that offerings often included agricultural produce such as corn, chilli pepper, cacao seeds, and pine needles. Other caves have ceramic censers with preserved copal incense that was burnt during important ritual events. Most of these subterranean sites also contain implements that were used for hunting, tilling of the soil, and for the processing of corn. The ultimate gift, however, was the offering of one’s blood, or human lives. Many cave sites contain the skeletal remains of victims who were offered in sacrifice to the powerful denizens of the underworld. More often than not, the skeletons are those of young children, a preferred victim of Chac the rain god. In other cases the victims included adult males, and occasionally females. All evidence suggests that victims were most likely taken into the caves alive and sacrificed at the end of the ceremonies. Their bodies would then be placed on the floors of small niches or chambers, particularly in areas with seasonal water flow.

Archaeological data indicate that prehistoric Maya cave rituals were most prevalent between 750 and 850 A.D., in what is known as the Late Classic period. This segment of time is significant because it is during this phase that ancient Maya civilization eventually declined, and most of the area was abandoned. Current theories suggest that environmental stress may have been a major cause for the decline of Maya civilization. It is possible that extensive periods of drought severely affected the Maya’s ability to provide enough food for a populace that far exceeds the current population of the area. If this is true, it could explain the reason why there was an increase in cave rituals at the Late Classic period. Despite this increase in ritual activity, however, the system eventually failed, and the surviving Maya gradually abandoned the many communities that bordered the Caves Branch area. All that remain today are a few tangible clues of the important ceremonies that they held deep within the confines of the sacred cave landscape.

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