Wider WorldPre-Hispanic, probably Early Postclassic (AD 900–1200) · Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, Mexico
Maya cave skull rack in Chiapas, Mexico, held 83 female and 79 male skulls
Mexican archaeologists counted 165 skulls in the cave at Frontera Comalapa, including 15 children, and found cut marks, signs of heating and missing jaws.
In brief 3 key points
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- A Chiapas cave held 165 skulls from a pre-Hispanic Maya deposit.
- Slightly more were female than male. An INAH researcher says this allows a reassessment of women's role in ritual.
- Sex was estimated from skull features because pelvic bones were unavailable.
Slightly more than half of the people whose skulls were left in a cave at Frontera Comalapa, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, were female. Researchers from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have counted 165 skulls in the deposit. They identified 83 as female and 79 as male. The other three were too fragmented to tell.
The cave was found in 2012. Archaeologists describe the deposit as a tzompantli, a Nahuatl word usually translated as skull rack. The skulls were placed there in pre-Hispanic times, and INAH is still studying them.
“Although the sample shows an apparent balance between the sexes, osteological analysis allows us to reassess the role of women in ancient ritual practices.”
Josuhé Lozada Toledo, researcher, INAH Directorate of Archaeological Studies, INAH Chiapas Centre
How the team estimated sex from skulls
Physical anthropologist Javier Montes de Paz carried out the first investigations. Researchers Cristell Delesma Pérez and Abigail Reyes López then estimated the sex of each individual.
The pelvis is the bone most commonly used for this, but pelvic bones were unavailable. The team used features of the skull instead, the second most common indicator. In males the angle of the lower jaw is generally more angular and the brow ridge more pronounced. In females the jaw angle tends to be rounder and the brow less prominent.
Most of the individuals were young adults between 25 and 35 years old. Fifteen of the 165 skulls belonged to children. Two people were estimated to have been between 55 and 70. That is well above the average life expectancy of about 40 years reported for the Maya region in the Early Postclassic period (AD 900–1200).
Signs of handling, cooking and torchlight
Several features of the bones point to repeated handling. Three individuals have cut marks, and there is evidence of heating or cooking. Most skulls lack their lower jaws. Teeth appear to have been removed from the upper jaws.
Archival photographs show soot on the cave ceiling. The INAH team reads this as a sign that people entered the cave carrying torches. They think the cave may have become a pilgrimage site for nearby communities, possibly for ceremonies asking for rain.
“These findings point to complex rituals involving the repeated handling, reintroduction, and removal of bones for ceremonial purposes.”
Josuhé Lozada Toledo, researcher, INAH
The skulls also show intentional cranial modification. It is mostly of the erect tabular type, made by placing boards against the head during childhood.
Lozada Toledo says the Comalapa deposit predates the great skull altars of central Mexico. Those were built in cities such as Tenochtitlan in the Late Postclassic period (AD 1200–1521). He notes that some may have served political purposes by displaying power. One example is the Huei Tzompantli at the centre of Tenochtitlan's Sacred Precinct.
He also points to beliefs about the body. Many Mesoamerican cultures placed a person's spiritual entities in different organs. They thought the tonalli in the head held the individual's essence. Seen this way, he says, a tzompantli may have been a large gathering of souls offered to deities in sacred places such as caves.
Mexico's Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, said the cave may have been a place of pilgrimage and ritual activity for Maya communities. She said INAH research is now beginning to reconstruct its history.
The remains are kept in the Physical Anthropology Laboratory of the INAH Chiapas Centre. Archaeologist Cristell Delesma reports that both the 165 skulls and 51 long bones are generally well preserved. One individual even kept a malleus, one of the tiny bones of the middle ear. It measures about 8–9 millimetres and rarely survives in archaeological contexts.
Sources (1)
Official announcementfrom National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and INAH Chiapas Centre
- Maya Tzompantli reveals female presence (Archaeology Wiki)
Edited by Guiseppe Weijermars
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