In the Maw of the Earth Monster

James E. Brady and Keith M. Prufer (editors). 2005. In the Maw of the Earth Monster: Mesoamerican Ritual Cave Use. University of Texas Press, Austin. 411 pp, and an index. Black and white drawings and photographs. Reference section for each chapter.

The 2005 text from University of Texas Press called In the Maw of the Earth Monster is a compilation of articles from two academic conference sessions, one from the 1994 American Anthropological Association meetings and one from the 1997 Society for American Archaeology meetings, on recent investigations of caves in Mesoamerica. Edited by James E. Brady and Keith M. Prufer, the book includes fourteen studies in three areas of central America: central Mexico; the Oaxaca highlands of southeastern Mexico; and the Maya region, including the Yucatan peninsula.

Of special note is the introduction, written by Brady and Prufer and including a detailed summary of the history of cave research in Latin America. This helps set the stage for the variety of the articles to follow.

The fourteen studies in this volume are quite eclectic, defying summarization. They variously cover art, ritual, ethnography, artifact analysis, computer mapping technology, cognitive archaeology, shamanism, history, and current anthropological studies. A couple of cases in point might whet your appetite.

For example, there's an interesting article by Manuel Aguilar, Miguel Medina Jaen, Tim M. Tucker and James E. Brady called "Constructing mythic space: The significance of a Chicomoztoc complex at Acatzingo Vieho". This article describes archaeological and ethnographic studies of the Acatzingo Vieho site, a small settlement located near six shallow caves carved into a semicircular outcrop of volcanic tuff; and ties the pattern and use of the caves to the mythological homeland of the Chicomoztoc.

An article by Janet Fitzsimmons, "Pre-hispanic rain ceremonies in Blade Cave, Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, Mexico," describes Blade Cave, or la Cueva del los Pedernales. The authors connect the cave's carved stalagmites to rain shrines, used during the Early Urban (AD 1-300) and Early City-State (AD 750-1250) periods.

"Cluster concentrations, boundary markers, and ritual pathways: A GIS analysis of artifact cluster patterns at Actun Tunicil Muknal, Belize," by Holley Moyes, uses GIS technology to map a cave and artifacts within it, and compares the layout to the quincuncial worldview of the Maya.

There's even an interesting study of Nahua shamans from Alan Sandstrom, called "The Cave-Pyramid Complex among the Contemporary Nahua of Northern Veracruz." I loved the illustrations of the cut paper images produced by shamans to communicate with spirits and hill guardians.

I could go on, but you get the point. Each of the articles in this fine collection are worth contemplating, particularly with regard to the meaning of caves beyond the traditional drug-induced-trances that once upon a time were the major interpretive framework of caves and rock art. Some of the papers are results from some of the large, important Mesoamerican programs which have conducted long-term multi-disciplinary research in the region, including the Yalahua Regional Human Ecology Project, Western Belize Regional Cave Project, and the Maya Mountains Archaeological Project.

Brady and Prufer have provided us non-specialists with a survey of the research into caves in and around Mesoamerica, both a regional survey and a theoretical survey. Anybody working or interested in the cultural context of caves and prehistoric art in general ought to pick up a copy today.