The Sacred Cenote
Cenotes are, at their most base, sinkholes filled with water. However, they are also a rich source of folklore in the Mayan culture. Cenotes can be quite striking because the water that fills them is from deep under the ground and is quite clear and pure. They were highly prized as water sources for communities and were often places of reverence or at least respect. One of the most infamous is the ‘Sacred Cenote’, located at Chichen itza.
The Scared Cenote also goes by a more grim name, ‘the Well of Sacrifice’. It is roughly 60-meters in diameter and 13 meters deep. Stories arose that young, female virgins would be sacrificed to the cenote by being thrown in alive. However, recent archaeological studies have revealed that to be a simplification of those that met their end in the waters of the Sacred Cenote.
Of the 200 individuals who have been encased in the Sacred Cenote for more than a thousand years, about half were young children. Even more interesting, more young adult men were found than young adult women. Their remains, based on close study, also show varying degrees of ritual mutilation. Some of the skeletons, for example, show that they were killed before they were put in the Sacred Cenote and their bodies likely displayed somewhere exposed to the elements.
Even more interesting than the bodies discovered is the strange fact that many of them were likely not born anywhere near the Sacred Cenote. In fact, through an examination of the remains’ teeth, and that at least 40 of the skeletons came from The Central Highlands of Mexico, the Yucatan peninsula, and Honduras. Which makes one wonder...how did they end up in the Sacred Cenote?
In addition to the bodies, pottery, jewelry, textiles, and even weapons have been found in the Sacred Cenote likely as part of a ritual. It is believed that sacrifices were made during times of drought which were believed to signal the end of Mayan culture. In particularly dire situations, it appears they looked towards human sacrifice as a way of appeasing the gods.
If you are curious, you can find some of the bodies discovered in the Sacred Cenote at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, and the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.
Thank you Aditya S. for your blogstonshing suggestion!
The original uploader was ZeBBy at French Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
