Postclassic miniature shrines in the Cochuah region

The Maya of the Cochuah Regionarchaeological and ethnographic perspectives on the northern lowlands

edited by Justine M. Shaw

University Of New Mexico Press • Albuquerque

©2015 by the University of New Mexico PressAl l r ights reser ved. Publ ished 2015

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chapter nine

Postclassic Miniature Shrines in the Cochuah Region

Johan Normark

,

Many sites in the Cochuah region have miniature shrines located on top of ear-lier structures. The earlier structures are usually from the Terminal Classic,

with some exceptions. The miniature shrines are probably from the Late Postclassic. Postclassic ceramic sherds found during surveys and excavations near shrines in the region are primarily from Chen Mul censers, which may have been placed inside these shrines. This chapter will take a look at where these small shrines are located on a regional level in order to fill in the gap between the late Terminal Classic open-fronted/C-shaped structures and the early colonial congregated settlements.

At the current state of research, 84 sites have been reported in the Cochuah region. Portions of 57 sites have been properly mapped, and, of these sites, almost half (25) have one miniature shrine or more. At least 119 shrines are known from the region. Notable are the sites of Yo’okop (31 shrines), Nohcacab (17 shrines), and Sisal (14 shrines), which have more than half of all known shrines. In addition to the miniature shrines, the large site of Yo’okop has more substantial Postclassic structures that have an “elite” signature of the “east coast” style. One of these build-ings is 6 m tall and sits on top of the Classic period pyramid known locally as the Castillo, making it the tallest prehispanic structure in the region (28 m). A 1-m-wide Postclassic stairway with balustrades of almost the same width reoriented the Castillo to the northeast. The Postclassic summit temple has two stories linked by internal ramps or stairs. The internal wall is covered by at least five coats of plaster. Two of them have traces of blue paint (Shaw et al. 2000, 44).

So far, no clearly identified Postclassic domestic architecture or residential areas have been located at any site, but many foundation braces in the region are hard to date based on style alone. The greater concentration of miniature shrines at some sites may be related to Postclassic households rather being traces of pilgrim-ages. However, several sites have only one shrine. Such sites might have been part of a greater ritual circuit. Sites with two or more shrines could possibly have been inhabited, since ritual circuits need only one shrine at each location. In any case, it

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table 9.1SITE EJIDO MINIA-

TURE SHRINE

WELL (ON

MAP)

WELL (GPS)

CHULTUN (ON MAP)

CHUL-TUN (GPS)

CAVE OTHER WATER

SOURCE

C-SHAPED POSTCON-QUEST

ARCHITEC-TURE

Structure

Ichmul (+ Poxil)

Ichmul 2 1 2 X

San Andres

Ichmul 7

San Cristóbal

Ichmul 6

San Juan Ichmul 3 1 X

San Pedro (Chan

Ichmul)

Ichmul 1 1

Nohcacab Xquerol 17 1 2 2 X

Parcela Escolar

(+ brecha)

Sacalaca 1 1 X

Ramonal Oriente

Sacalaca 5 1 1 1 1 X

San Diego

Sacalaca 1 1 X

Santa Elena

Sacalaca 1 1 1 X

Xtojil Sacalaca 2 1 1 3

Yo’dzonot Sacalaca 2 1 1 X

Sacalaca Sacalaca 1 1 2

Chakal Ja’as

Sacalaca 7 1 1

El Palomar

Saban 1 1 X

San Isidro Saban 1

Venadito Saban 1 1 X

San Fran-cisco

Saban 2 1 X

Yo’pila Saban 1 1 X

Yo’okop Saban 31 1 1 3

Ramonal Quemado

San Felipe

4

San Felipe San Felipe

4 1 2 X

San Lorenzo

San Felipe

2 1

Sisal San Felipe

14 1 1 1 X

Tabasquito Tabasco 3

Table 9.1. Features of Sites in the Cochuah Region. Table by Johan Normark.

159Postclassic Miniature Shrines in the Cochuah Region

is unlikely that there would have been 25 pilgrimage sites/nodes in a single ritual circuit in the region and no resident population, particularly since early colonial sources stated that Cochuah was one of the most densely populated cuuchcabal’ob of Yucatán (Victoria Ojeda 1985, 15–16).

The miniature shrines were usually not larger than a few square meters. They were one-room constructions with one entrance. Building elements from older structures, such as Terminal Classic doorjambs, were frequently used to construct the shrines. They sometimes had a small altar in front of and at a lower elevation than the shrine. The altars were about 1 x 1 m2, consisting of several smaller flat stones arranged into a quadrangular shape (Normark 2003c).

Figure 9.1. Regional distribution of miniature shrines. Map by Johan Normark.

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The shrines most likely were palm thatched and resembled residential houses. Depictions of miniature shrines in the Postclassic codices show house-like struc-tures for “deities” to dwell in (Lorenzen 2003). “Deity” is a problematic term, how-ever. What is probably meant are incorporeal persons (“ancestors”) (Astor-Aguilera 2010). The depicted “deities” may also have been ceramic effigy censers or idols. These objects were most likely used for communication with incorporeal persons tethered to the objects themselves. Communicating objects needed to be sheltered, clothed, fed, and taken care of, which is still the case today in the Cochuah region (ibid., 162). The miniature shrines that sheltered communicating objects were prob-ably believed to be tethered with incorporeal persons in their own right.

Figure 9.2. Plan of miniature shrine and altar at Nohcacab. Map by Johan Normark and Alberto Flores Colin.

N

0 2.5meters


The Spaniards observed deer antlers in front of some structures, and hunters made sacrifices at such places (Tozzer 1941). Petitions to the deities/ancestors who controlled game and fish may thus have been one reason for using the structures. Lorenzen (2003, xiii) “posit[s] that Late Postclassic miniature shrines were the focus of perpetual subsistence rites intimately tied to ancestral deity veneration and the ritual incorporation of sacred caves, perceived as the paramount source of fertility, spiritual power and creation.” Therefore, these structures seem to have focused on increasing rain, agricultural productivity, and game. The distribution of these shrines at Nohcacab can serve as an illustrative example since some of the shrines are associated with water and soil suitable for agriculture.

NOHCACAB

Nohcacab has an unusually high concentration of miniature shrines (Normark 2003c, 2009a). Yo’okop has many more shrines and Sisal has almost as many as Nohcacab, but Nohcacab is a considerably smaller site in terms of monumental architecture than the other two sites. Seventeen securely defined shrines, 11 altars, and 2 possible shrines have been documented.

The western (N1E1-16) and the northern (N1E1-17) mounds of an earlier small triadic group north of the largest mound at the site (N1E1-2) have one shrine each. The western shrine is oriented to the east, where the altar (N1E1-21) is located. The northern shrine has its altar (N1E1-22) to the south, close to the other altar.

The shrine (N1W1-2) on N1W1-1 has an altar (N1E1-10) to the east. A Chen Mul Modeled hand from an effigy censer was observed near the shrine. For the con-struction of the small altar, parts of the back wall of an L-shaped, open-fronted structure (N1E1-8) were removed. Structure N1E1-2, the tallest structure at Nohcacab, also has a shrine (N1E1-3) on its summit with an altar to the west. The shrines N1E1-3 and N1W1-2 face each other, but not in a straight line. That is prob-ably not a coincidence since the older Terminal Classic structures upon which they stand also faced each other as part of a large household compound.

The altarless shrine on top of S1E1-1 may relate to water. Below the southern side of the platform is a depression that might have been a chultun. Between the shrine and the depression, there is a sloping area with well-cut flat stones, which seems to have been constructed to direct water into the depression. Lorenzen (2003) believes that some of the Postclassic buildings at El Naranjal were water shrines. This shrine at Nohcacab may very well have had the same function, although the chultun seems to have been created in earlier times and may relate to the Terminal Classic structure upon which the shrine was constructed.

Some of the shrines in both the central and the peripheral parts of the site were located near bajadas or other areas useful for agriculture or water management. These areas contained more moisture and deeper soils, similar to dry sinkholes (rejolladas) in other parts of Yucatán (Kepecs and Boucher 1996). The largest bajada, which flanks the western part of the site, lacks known shrines.

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POSSIBLE FUNCTIONS

Although there is a late Terminal Classic, or Modified Florescent, presence at Nohcacab, manifested in two open-fronted structures, there is a temporal gap between these larger structures and the miniature shrines. This is most clearly seen in the open-fronted Structure N1E1-8, where the back wall has been partly removed

Figure 9.3. Miniature shrines at Nohcacab. Map by Johan Normark.


for the construction of the altar (N1E1-10) to the shrine (N1W1-2). Ceramics also indicate that the temporal gap is one of centuries. The shrines may, therefore, have been constructed for the establishment of land rights by newly settled people by referring back to the previous occupants, who became regarded as ancestors (Lorenzen 2003). Resettlement is not only a Late Postclassic phenomenon, but it is difficult to determine if the miniature shrines also related to previous occupants in order to establish land rights. The recycling of earlier monuments and buildings is known from many Lowland centers and periods (Stanton and Magnoni 2008), but the intention behind the reuse differed. Establishment of land rights may not always have been the main reason.

It is often suggested that household shrines were used to venerate ancestral remains. Human skulls and figurines filled with ashes from cremation were kept in Postclassic shrines. Some contemporary Yucatec Maya place bones of their relatives in shrines that look similar to the domestic house (Astor-Aguilera 2010; Redfield 1941). Lorenzen (2003, 47) believes that “deified” ancestors are depicted on the Chen Mul Modeled ceramic effigy censers rather than only “deities.” However, no clearly secured Postclassic residential area has been found at Nohcacab. The connections between shrines and land rights/ancestors are there-fore tentative, although McAnany (1995) and Kunen (2006) also argue for a con-nection between land rights and ancestor worship. Genealogical thinking in agricultural collectives works from a relational context of how knowledge and substance are generated. It is embedded in life-historical narratives of predeces-sors’ deeds, their movements and emplacements, and how they intervene in the lives of their descendants (Ingold 2000, 133). Beings other than humans also can be ancestors (ibid., 140). To the Maya, the ancestors are not just human predeces-sors of one’s lineage. They are incorporeal persons that can be tethered to specific objects, which are given a house and are taken care of (i.e., the miniature shrine) (Astor-Aguilera 2010). The ancestral connection at Nohcacab cannot be estab-lished with any certainty other than by analogy. Can the connections to rain, water, caves, and fertility be observed (relations that may be associated with ancestors in one way or another)?

Miniature shrines were sometimes used in public contexts as well (Lorenzen 2003, 29). Contemporary Kiché in highland Guatemala pile smashed vessels next to shrines they call “mountain-place” and “water-place” (B. Tedlock 1992). Smashed ceramic incense burners in effigy form are often found around shrine doorways (Lorenzen 2003, 2). Effigy censers may have been used in ceremonial processions along and between causeways and at sites, shrines, and watery features at El Naranjal (ibid., 55). Miniature shrines have been found on the causeways at Yo’okop (see chapter 8, this volume), but when they were built the causeways were most likely no longer in use.

Chahk is a patron of rain that controls the northeastern corner of the eastern sky (Lorenzen 2003). It is possible that some of the shrines at Nohcacab that are aligned in a north or northeast direction may have been rain/water shrines, but there are only three shrines at Nohcacab that face to the north. Of these, Structure S1E3-2 is of special interest since it is very close to a bajada.

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Speleothems were used in the Postclassic shrines at El Naranjal in the Yalahau region. These had been broken off and brought there from nearby caves, which sug-gests an association with water. Some of the speleothems were found in association with Chen Mul censers. One of them had also been burnt (Lorenzen 2003, 41). However, in other contexts researchers have shown that speleothem breakage may not relate to water/rain after all. Interpretations of the archaeological assemblage found around the speleothems at Balankanche suggest that the rituals performed in this cave probably had more to do with world renewal ceremonies than with rain petition in response to a drought (Vail and Hernández 2012). Further, Helmke (2009) argues that speleothems sometimes were war trophies taken from the caves of enemies. Since no excavation of the shrines of the Cochuah region has been undertaken, it is uncertain if speleothems were used in these shrines. Broken spe-leothems were found during one test-pit excavation at Parcela Escolar, but this unit was not located near a shrine.

Thus, on a local site level, some shrines, but probably not all, were associated with water. This is an obvious connection at sites that had one or several water sources, such as Nohcacab (a well), Sisal (a well), and Yo’okop (an aguada/lake and a well). Is there a similar pattern on a regional level?

THE REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION

Nohcacab is located near the major site of Ichmul, which only has two known min-iature shrines. However, Ichmul became a congregated settlement during the early colonial period, and the majority of the Postclassic structures at the site were prob-ably stripped for construction materials or during the campaigns against idolatry. Ichmul became a major pilgrimage site dedicated to the Blister (Black) Christ (see chapter 11, this volume). Navarrete (1999) believes that the Black Christ is a syn-cretic version of the Postclassic patron of trade known as Ek Chuah. It is also pos-sible that Ichmul, which has a large plaza suitable for markets, was already a pilgrimage center in Terminal Classic times (Flores Colin and Normark 2005c). Thus, there may have been far more miniature shrines at Ichmul before the con-quest than what appears today. The causeway system created during the Terminal Classic connected Ichmul with smaller settlements that also show an unusual amount of later miniature shrines (although the causeways were probably no longer in use in Postclassic times). The terminus site of San Cristóbal has six shrines, and San Andres has seven shrines (Flores Colin and Normark 2005e, 2005f). San Andres is also located near Nohcacab, and both sites seem to have been part of an extensive Terminal Classic settlement that probably housed a dispersed Late Postclassic population as well.

A similar pattern can be seen in the congregated settlement of Sacalaca and its surroundings. There is no known miniature shrine in central Sacalaca, but Postclassic Chen Mul censer sherds have been found in the acropolis area. Like at Ichmul, possible Postclassic shrines would have been destroyed in the early colonial


period. However, there are two miniature shrines in the northern group and one shrine in a brecha (cleared path in the forest) between Sacalaca and Parcela Escolar. These areas lack substantial colonial and modern settlement that could have destroyed the shrines. Smaller sites a couple of kilometers away from Sacalaca do have several shrines. Ramonal Oriente has at least five shrines, and Chakal Ja’as has seven shrines. Thus, congregated colonial settlements located among larger prehis-panic ruins, like Ichmul and Sacalaca, lack or have few Postclassic shrines, but they probably contained more shrines before the conquest. “Undisturbed” large- and medium-size sites, like Yo’okop and Sisal, indicate that this may be the case.

The hydrological regimes caused by the Chicxulub impact and differentiated sedimentary and weathering patterns during the Tertiary period splits the Cochuah region into two halves (Normark 2008a, 2009b, 2014; Perry et al. 2009). The north-ern ejidos of Ichmul, Xquerol, and Sacalaca, located in the southern part of the cenote-bearing zone, have 15 sites with 56 shrines. However, the northern part has been affected by colonial period settlement that may have destroyed shrines at larger sites (such as at Sacalaca and Ichmul). The southern ejidos of Saban, San Felipe, and Tabasco, located in the northern part of the Albion Formation, have 10 sites with 64 shrines. In the southern part of the region, shrines are more visible since the larger sites were less affected by colonial settlement. Whether the greater number of sites with miniature shrines in the north also reflects a greater popula-tion density during the Postclassic cannot be determined from the available data. However, precipitation decreases to the northwest, and the number of sites with shrines increases in the same direction. Sites with miniature shrines are therefore more abundant in the drier part of the region and might reflect a connection to the meteorological conditions (rain) than to the hydrogeological conditions (groundwater).

Due to the assumed connection between the miniature shrines and water, rain, and fertility, one would expect them to be found near caves and prehispanic wells since these features tend to be associated with the patrons of rain (Chahkob). Of the 21 known sites with a total of 25 karstic features, only 5 sites have miniature shrines on the surface (Ichmul, Sacalaca, Xtojil, Yo’dzonot, and Chakal Ja’as). There would be an additional site if the two shrines inside the Huay Max cave were included, but this cave lacks any known surrounding settlement and the shrines may be older than the Postclassic (see figure 10.6). Chakal Ja’as is the notable excep-tion here since it has seven shrines. It is worth mentioning that all the cave sites with miniature shrines on the surface are located in the northern part of the region, in the cenote-bearing zone (only three cenotes have been documented, but two more probably exist at Ichmul, according to colonial texts). This also happens to be the drier part in terms of precipitation. There are few shrines in the intersection between the two hydrogeological regimes (see figure 9.1).

Of the 25 sites with miniature shrines, 17 are located at sites with wells, although some of these shrines are located quite far from the wells. There is no major differ-ence between the northern and the southern parts of the region. There are 9 sites with miniature shrines and well(s) in the north, and there are 8 in the south.

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BEFORE AND AFTER THE MINIATURE SHRINES

The correlation between miniature shrines and rain, water, caves, and fertility is not always as clear on a regional scale as it may be locally at some sites. But if we set the miniature shrines into a greater temporal context and see how people have located architecture and settlement near water sources, some interesting patterns emerge on a regional scale.

The CRAS project has recorded at least 109 wells. Most of them are probably from the colonial period or later, particularly at colonial and contemporary settle-ments like Saban, Huay Max, Sacalaca, Xquerol, Ichmul, San Felipe, and Tabasco (Normark 2008a, 2009b, 2014). Ichmul (and perhaps Xquerol) had more wells than figure 9.4 indicates, but no survey of wells was undertaken in these ejidos. At the colonial period sites of the other ejidos, there are usually several wells, far more common than at prehispanic sites. However, there are also several prehispanic sites that lack the diagnostic colonial architectural features of larger settlements but have at least one well. These might have traces of a postconquest presence, such as corrals and small ranchos where a few people lived. It is likely that the former pre-hispanic settlements created the wells, which attracted later colonial settlement. Most of these prehispanic settlements are from the Terminal Classic period. Currently there are 57 properly mapped sites and 16 sketch-mapped sites that have prehispanic architecture. Twenty-one of these 73 sites lack known wells or other major water sources (and they also lack any detectable colonial architecture). That is, 71 percent of the Terminal Classic and all “pre–Terminal Classic” settlements combined have at least one major water source (“major” in relation to small rain-fed chultunes and haltunes). Several of these smaller sites lack known Early and Late Classic settlements and were primarily inhabited during the Late Formative and Terminal Classic dry phases.

During the late Terminal Classic, there are fewer traces of settlement. The best architectural signature from this time is the open-fronted structure. Currently, 17 such structures have been documented at 11 sites. Of these, only an open-fronted structure at Chakal Ja’as and 3 similar structures at Xtojil are associated with a cave (N1W1-3, N1E1-5, and N1E1-6). The 3 open-fronted structures at Yo’okop most likely benefited from the aguada. All other open-fronted structures, such as the 2 at Nohcacab, are located at sites with wells. During this time, after several severe Terminal Classic droughts (Medina-Elizalde and Rohling 2012), all (100 percent) of the known diagnostic architectural features were located near water-related fea-tures (cave, well, chultun, aguada). Six of the 10 sites with open-fronted structures also have later miniature shrines (including Xtojil). Thus, there is not much conti-nuity in settlement between these two periods. They are also separated by several centuries, and the Postclassic alignments of buildings often break with the Terminal Classic patterns, whereas the Terminal Classic patterns tend to follow the earlier Late Formative and Early Classic alignments despite the Late Classic depopulation of the area. (The exception to this “rule” is perhaps Group D at Yo’okop, since this Terminal Classic group breaks with the alignments of earlier structures at the site.)


Of the 25 known sites with miniature shrines, 14 of them also have postcon-quest remains. These 14 sites all have a groundwater source in one way or another. In fact, all recorded sites in the Cochuah region that have traces of postconquest architecture are located near a groundwater source. The only time in the prehis-panic past when the population of a settlement relied that much on a groundwater

Figure 9.4. Distribution of wells in the Cochuah region. Map by Johan Normark.

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Figure 9.5. Site of Xtojil. Map by Johan Normark.


source was during the late Terminal Classic, during the period of open-fronted architecture and repeated droughts (Medina-Elizalde and Rohling 2012). During other periods of droughts the settlement dispersed, even to sites lacking water sources (Normark 2008a). The colonial period concentration on groundwater sources had more to do with a change in economics than anything else. Cattle, horses, and pigs need groundwater in great supply, and this is clearly seen in the corrals and pens at ranchos throughout the region.

The connections between miniature shrines, rain, caves, water, and fertility are not the whole picture. These connections are usually made via ethnographical and ethnohistorical analogies from the present and from the colonial period. These postconquest periods experienced a much greater reliance on groundwater sources than did the preceding Postclassic settlements.

The miniature shrines may also be the only remains of a “rotted town” (lab cah), as mentioned in early colonial documents. This was the location from which the population was forced to leave in order to uphold the colonial regime in con-gregated settlements (Hanks 2010).

Postclassic miniature shrines in the Cochuah region

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