Seeking Sacred Landscapes
Images of the Maya Caves and Cenotes of the Yucatán region in Mexico
by Bruce T. Martin with additional essays by James E. Brady, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, Maria de Lourdes Melo, Macquarie University, Sydney and Paul Munro, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
The Maya Caves and Cenotes of the Yucatán region in Mexico are fragile, organic, limestone tunnels and caverns that run below and along the surface of the earth. They are beautiful, mysterious and compelling examples of the majesty of our natural environment. Caves and cenotes, shrouded by darkness and difficult to access, are a significant symbol of human’s primordial fear of what we don’t comprehend and our desire to comprehend our surroundings.
These images examine the visual and material attributes of caves, early foundations of both the Maya’s worldview and ours. Caves and cenotes challenge both our understanding of the physical world and their spiritual connections. Upon consideration, we find common ground with the Maya, along with a greater awareness of who we are and the world we live in. In addition, the value of clean water sources will continue to grow as a critical aspect of human rights issues for the Maya and rest of the world.
These photographs of caves and cenotes are a component piece from my photographic project on the Maya, Look Close See Far, A Cultural Portrait of the Maya. This project examines the Maya region of Central America, an area both beautiful and complex in its nature. It is a place where the delicate balance between society and the environment dominates life and challenges one's view of reality. Since 1987, I have gathered more than 10,000 images over a range of landscapes and attitudes in an attempt to make a distinctive portrait of this singular culture.
Caves and cenotes are an integral part of Maya mythology, perception and cultural understanding. As natural openings and gateways to the Maya underworld Xibalba, they are fundamental sources of sacred energy and power. Many of the Maya’s defining myths take place in caves. Different legends tell a variety of distinctive and overlapping stories. Corn, a primary source of food for the Maya was found in a cave. Entering the archetypal cave, the Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh, the Maya creation story, travel a dangerous journey to defeat the Maya Gods of Death of the Underworld. By allowing themselves to be sacrificed, the Hero Twins become reborn as the Sun and the Moon. Caves were and are also believed to be a source of malevolent energy and disease carrying winds.
My motivation is to use photography to document our world, explore our perceptions and question our viewpoints. In the Maya Communities of Central America today, their pre-Columbian earth lords are still revered, their deceased ancestors are consulted with ritual, and harmony in life is a daily struggle. With the rapid development of recent years, many contrasting and often violent viewpoints have been introduced, so that the Maya and their environment are being overwhelmed. Surviving these disruptive influences and maintaining their cultural dignity is the challenge for an uncertain future that the Maya now face.
The future for the Maya and this region is unclear. With a greater awareness of their issues, a more productive dialogue on the Maya and their land can begin that promotes cultural diversity, protects their environment and increases respect for their fading traditions.
I would like to thank Ina, Hannah and Zachary for their support and help over the years in making this project possible. Thank you to James E. Brady, Maria de Lourdes Melo, and Paul Munro, for their excellent essays and insights into the Maya, caves and cenotes. Thank you to Jaime Awe, Geoffrey Aronson, Michael Bawaya, George J. Bey, Andy Caulfield, David Freidel, David Kurtis, Tim Harper, Mary Beth Hermans, Patricia McAnany, Dave Munroe, Mario Alberto Novelo Dorantes, Marie-Claire Paiz, Jerry Rabinowitz, Jim Ringel, Ellen Rothenberg, Meghan Rukas, Mollie Thompson and the many Maya people I met along the way for their assistance and advice.
Additional Image Captions
01_ Gruta Milenio, Yucatán 2012
The Maya Caves and Cenotes of the Yucatán region in Mexico are fragile, organic, limestone tunnels and caverns that run below and along the surface of the earth. They are beautiful, mysterious and compelling.
02_ Structure 2, Chicanná, Campeche 1994
….certain Maya buildings were supposed to be [represent] caves. At the site of Chicanna, a structure has an elaborate façade depicting the earth monster. The façade is placed so that the creature’s mouth frames the doorway. The open maw of the earth monster is a well-recognized cave symbol so the message is clear: when passing this doorway, one is entering a cave….
James E. Brady
03_ K'inich Janaab' Pakal, Palenque,
Chiapas 1990
In his tomb in Palenque, K'inich Janaab' Pakal, ruler of that Maya polity located in the Chiapas of Southern Mexico from 603AD to 683 AD, uses Maya symbolism to explain his crossing from this world into the next. Pakal’s sarcophagus cover has iconography showing him falling into a cosmic cave. The importance of caves to the Maya as revealed in the Popol Vuh, is repeated here to give Pakal a map for a successful journey through the earth to the sky above. At the journey’s completion, Pakal was reborn as a celestial body.
04_ El Castillo, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán 1987
...El Castillo, was built on a line drawn between the Cenote of Sacrifice and the Cenote Xtoloc. More recently Guillermo De Anda has shown that there are two other cenotes on an east-west line so the Castillo falls at the center of the cosmograms… James E. Brady
Experts have discovered that the main pyramid at Mexico’s Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá was at least partially built atop a subterranean river.
Mexico’s National Autonomous University scientists say they found a subterranean cavity about 20 metres deep below the pyramid of Kukulkan, also known as El Castillo.
Geophysics expert Rene Chavez said on Thursday that the underground river chamber is naturally covered by rock. Such underground rivers often connect the open cenotes, or sinkhole lakes, that dot Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula.
Associated Press 8/13/15
05_ Sacred Cenote, Chichén Itzá,
Yucatán 2016
…Cenote, from the Maya word dzenot, generally refers a feature that reaches water. The best known example is the straight sided Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichén Itzá… James E. Brady
06_Stela Two, Dos Pilas, Guatemala 1991
Stela 2 at Dos Pilas
1,405,771 Days since the Maya's third creation, in 735AD, Divine Dos Pilas Ruler 3 Kawil is declaring his success in a recent Battle. Dressed in symbols of Mystic Power, his garments are tools for communicating with the supernaturals.
He wears a deerskin headgear supported by celestial designs declaring his war event is sanctified by the Eveningstar Venus. Adorned with feathers, jade jewelry, a human scull and an Owl, this enlightened leader insures success for his domain. The Owl, a messenger for the Earth Lords of the Maya Underworld, tells these Gods the greatness of Ruler 3 Kawil's deeds and his gratitude to the ancestors for victory.
In a battle with neighboring Seibal, Ruler 3 Kawil has defeated and captured their Divine Ruler. The captive, Jaguar Paw Jaguar is bound, tortured, and sacrificed for the well being of the Dos Pilas Clan and for harmony in the Maya world. These events also confirm Dos Pilas's domination over the region's resources and trade.
07_ Gruta, Dos Pilas, Guatemala 1993
In the Rio Petexbatún Region of the Petén Rain Forest are a series of Maya Ruins, home to the forefathers of present day Maya. They lie unbothered in the soft green light of the Jungle keeping the forgotten history of the past inhabitants in its stone carvings, buried tombs and crumbled architecture. Uphill from the river, among fresh water springs, deep subterranean caves and thick jungle cover sits Dos Pilas. Once an aggressive Classic Community, it used Warfare, Marriage and Diplomacy to dominate the Region during the 7th and 8th Centuries AD
08_ Grutas de Loltún, Yucatán 1994
…Non-humans were the first to arrive in the Yucatan Peninsula. There is evidence of marine and land megafauna in the underground flooded cave systems of the Peninsula dating back to the Pleistocene Epoch (2.5 million BCE to 10,000BCE). This has included the discovery of camel, llama, tapir, horse, giant sloth and mammoth skeletons (Rojas and Gonzalez 2009), the Grutas de Loltún is one such site where many of these bones have been found….Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita and Paul Munro
09_ Caste War Fortifications, Gruta Oxpeel Hool, Yucatán 2012
…are examples of these shelters, the Maya used them both as hiding places during the Caste War, fortifying them by building stone walls at their entrances…Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita and Paul Munro
10_ Gruta Oxpeel Hool, Yucatán 2012
….The primacy of caves is reflected as well in the fact that they are considered to be the homes of the most important indigenous deity who is generally referred to as the “Earth Lord.”… James E. Brady
11_ Gruta Oxpeel Hool, Yucatán 2012
Caves and cenotes are an integral part of Maya mythology, perception and cultural understanding. As natural openings and gateways to the Maya underworld Xibalba, they are fundamental sources of sacred energy and power.
12_ Grutas Tzabnah, Yucatán 2012
Many of these caves and cenotes are believed to be the results of the “Chicxulub” meteor that hit the Yucatan Peninsula near the town of present day Chicxulub 65 Million years ago.
13_ Grutas Tzabnah, Yucatán 2012
Entering the archetypal cave, the Hero Twins of the Popol Vuh, the Maya creation story, travel a dangerous journey to defeat the Maya Gods of Death of the Underworld. By allowing themselves to be sacrificed, the Hero Twins become reborn as the Sun and the Moon.
14_ Grutas Tzabnah, Yucatán 2012
Stalactites, formed by dripping mineral deposits, are joined with stalagmites, formed by dripping mineral deposits from the stalactites, to create columns that take on the appearance of stone trees.
Evidence of Maya usage, such as this stone carved with glyphs, appears though out these caves and cenotes.
19_ Grutas de Santa Rita, Yucatán 2012
…Paintings of hands can be found on the walls of the Grutas de Santa Rita. Archaeologists have argued that such paintings could be ‘symbolic boundaries’ or space demarcations made by elite community members, not only to control the community’s water utilisation but especially as a restriction on external visitors (Evia Cervantes 2005)…
Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita and Paul Munro
22_ Cenote Yaxuna, Yucatán 2012
….The word ‘cenote’ comes from the Spanish transformation of the Maya term dzono’ot, which roughly translates as ‘water-filled cavity’…
Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita and Paul Munro
23_ Cenote Ik Kil, Yucatán, 2016
…The expansive north of the Yucatan Peninsula contains no rivers and next to no above ground sources of potable water. Instead, the Peninsula’s fresh water is contained in the world’s most extensive flooded cave systems, accessible only via the numerous cenotes (sinkholes) that pierce the region’s surface...Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita and Paul Munro