Prácticas funerarias y rituales en el Cenote San José de Mayapán = : Funerary and ritual practices in the cenote San Jose de Mayapan

The underground spaces played an important role in the Spiritual World of the ancient Maya, which was to be reflected in the funeral pracitces of this town. However, few studies have provided direct evidence of these customs in cenotes or caves in the region (eg Prufer 2005). Discussions of human remains recovered in cenotes have been dominated by sacred elcenote of chichen itza which seems to have received the remains of victims of sacrifice (Beck and Sievert 2005; de Anda 2007: Tiesler 2005). However, they are increasingly diverse funerary rituals documented in cenotes (eg Glassman and Bonor 2005; Tiesler 2005). The present study represents an important step in this line of research. In the year 1997, a large number of human skeletons in the cenote San Jose, Mayapan (Figure 5.1) (Uc et al. 1997) was discovered. Here we present detailed results of the excavation and analysis of recovered materials.