Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-g7ldn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-25T17:50:12.969Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Two Trophy Skulls from Pacbitun, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2019

Gabriel Wrobel ,
Christophe Helmke ,
Sherry Gibbs ,
George Micheletti ,
Norbert Stanchly  and
Terry Powis
Gabriel Wrobel*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, 655 Auditorium Drive, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Christophe Helmke
Affiliation:
Institute of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Plads 8, DK-2300 Copenhagen, Denmark
Sherry Gibbs
Affiliation:
Faculty of Arts, Science, and Technology, Galen University, Western Highway, Mile 62.5, Cayo District, Belize
George Micheletti
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Howard Phillips Hall Rm 309, Orlando, FL 32816-1361, USA
Norbert Stanchly
Affiliation:
AS&G Archaeological Consulting, 34 Leith Hill Rd #805, North York, ON M2J 1Z4, Canada
Terry Powis
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Anthropology, Kennesaw State University, 402 Bartow Avenue, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA
*
(wrobelg@msu.edu, corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two modified skulls from Pacbitun, Belize, one with a glyphic text, match ancient Maya depictions of trophies fashioned from war captives and worn by elite warriors.

Dos cráneos modificados de Pacbitun, Belice, uno con un texto glifico, coinciden con las antiguas representaciones mayas de trofeos de cautivos de guerra y usados por guerreros de élite.

Keywords

Mayatrophy skullPacbitunbone modificationiconographymayacabeza trofeoPacbitunmodificación óseaiconografía

Information

Type
Report
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 218 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References Cited

Beck, Lane A., and Sievert, April K. 2005 Mortuary Pathways Leading to the Cenote at Chichen ltza. In Interacting with the Dead: Perspectives on Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium, edited by Rakita, Gordon F. M., Buikstra, Jane E., Beck, Lane A., and Williams, Sloan R., pp. 290–304. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Beetz, Carl P., and Satterthwaite, Linton 1981 The Monuments and Inscriptions of Caracol, Belize. University Museum Monograph No. 45. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Berryman, Carrie Anne 2007 Captive Sacrifice and Trophy Taking among the Ancient Maya: An Evaluation of the Bioarchaeological Evidence and Its Sociopolitical Implications. In The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians, edited by Chacon, Richard J. and Dye, David, pp. 377–399. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Chávez Balderas, Ximena, Cortés, Erika Robles, Molina, Alejandra Aguirre, and de Anda, Michelle 2015 Efigies de la Muerte: Decapitación ritual y modificación de cráneos de la Ofrenda 141 del Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan. Estudios de Antropología Biológica 17:53–75.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, Saul, Julie Mather, and Saul, Frank P. 2002 Ancestral Faces: A Preclassic Maya Skull-Mask from Cuello, Belize. Antiquity 76:951–952.Google Scholar
Harrison-Buck, Eleanor, McAnany, Patricia A., and Storey, Rebecca 2007 Empowered and Disempowered during the Late to Terminal Classic Transition: Maya Burial and Termination Rituals in the Sibun Valley, Belize. In New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society, edited by Tiesler, Vera and Cucina, Andrea, pp. 74–101. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Helmke, Christophe 2019 Tactics, Trophies and Titles: A Comparative Vantage on Ancient Maya Raiding. Ancient Mesoamerica, in press.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth G. 1989 Militarism and Social Organization at Xochicalco, Morelos. In Mesoamerica after the Decline of Teotihuacan, AD 700–900, edited by Diehl, Richard A. and Berlo, Janet C., pp. 69–82. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen, Stuart, David, and Taube, Karl 2006 The Memory of Bones: Body, Being, and Experience among the Classic Maya. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Kidder, Alfred V. 1947 The Artifacts of Uaxactun. Publication 576. Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. 2012 Terminal Classic Maya Heterodoxy and Shrine Vernacularism in the Sibun Valley, Belize. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 22:115–134.Google Scholar
Micheletti, George, and Stanchly, Norbert 2014 Structural Associations in E Group Plazas: Preliminary Investigation of Structure 3 in Plaza A at Pacbitun. In Pacbitun Regional Archaeological Project (PRAP): Report on the 2013 Field Season, edited by Powis, Terry G., pp. 46–61. Belize Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Powis, Terry G., Jon Spenard, Sheldon Skaggs, Micheletti, George, and Helmke, Christophe 2017 An Ancient Maya City Living on the Edge: The Culture History of Pacbitun, Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 14:191–212.Google Scholar
Rivera Guzmán, Ángel Iván 2014 Hablando sobre los ancestros: Una mandíbula humana con grabados de estilo ñuiñe. Contributions in New World Archaeology 7:141–158.Google Scholar
Scherer, Andrew K. 2015 Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya: Rituals of Body and Soul. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Storey, Rebecca 2005 Lifestyles (before and after Death) of the Rich and Famous at Copan. In Copan: The Rise and Fall of a Classic Maya Kingdom, edited by Webster, David L., Freter, Ann Corinne, and Gonlin, Nancy, pp. 315–343. SAR Press, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Storey, Rebecca 2014 Classic Maya Warfare and Skeletal Trophies: Victims and Aggressors. In Bioarchaeologial and Forensic Perspectives on Violence, edited by Martin, Debra L. and Anderson, Cheryl, pp. 120–133. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Tiesler, Vera, and Cucina, Andrea (editors) 2007 New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Tiesler, Vera, Cucina, Andrea, Kam Manahan, T., Douglas Price, T., Ardren, Traci, and Burton, James H. 2010 A Taphonomic Approach to Late Classic Maya Mortuary Practices at Xuenkal, Yucatán, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 35:365–379.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred (editor) 1941 Landa's Relación de las Cosas de Yucatan. Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Wanyerka, Philip J. 2003 The Southern Belize Epigraphic Project: The Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Southern Belize. Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc., http://www.famsi.org/reports/00077/, accessed 17 March 2018.Google Scholar