Dissertation: Mayan Traditions at Piedras Negras

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Under the direction of Dr. Takeshi Inomata, Mr. Mark Child will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. The goal of his research is to reconstruct prehistoric Mayan ritual practice and examine the potential continuity between ancient and post contact periods. While early Spanish manuscripts provide extensive descriptions of multiple aspects of Mayan life, it is uncertain to what extent these are biased by European preconceptions. According to Spanish accounts the Mayan worldview included the hot/cold dichotomy and, supposedly, Mayans believed that good health resulted from an appropriate balance of the two. Illness, they believed was the result of a preponderance of "cold" and to remedy this people entered ritual sweat baths to increase the amount of "hot" in their body. As Dr. Child notes, this concept is surprisingly close to the European "four humors" belief and there is reason to doubt its prehistoric Mayan existence. Through archaeological excavation at the site of Piedras Negras in Guatemala Mr. Child will attempt to reconstruct sweat bath ritual.While several examples of sweat baths are known from other Middle American sites, Piedras Negras is unique in the number it contains. Eight have been identified and excavation to date indicates that their sequential construction spans the occupation of this major site. However adjoining rooms appear to have been built over a relatively short period of time. Based on his prior work at the site, Mr. Child believes it is possible to reconstruct how sweat baths were used since they contain a wealth of artifacts including carefully crafted obsidian (volcanic glass blades) and pumice stones. "Hot/cold" is only one of many dicotomys attributed to the prehistoric Maya and through careful mapping, excavation and plotting of excavated remains it should be possible to determine where activities and gendered use of the sweatbaths were divided along such lines.This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many Middle Americanist archaeologists. It will shed light on the long-term continuity of tradition over time and help determine whether specific concepts are primarily historical in nature or reflect more basic aspects of the human mind. This award will also assist in training a promising young scientist.