The Mass Grave of Uxul and the Function of Ritual Violence in Classic Maya Society
Introduction
Due to its remarkable state of preservation, the Mass Grave of Uxul (Campeche, Mexico), discovered and excavated by Nicolaus Seefeld during the 2013 field season of the Uxul Archaeological Project, provides an intriguing insight into the phenomenon of ritual violence in Classic Maya society.
While Maya art provides explicit representations of ritual violence, such as the degradation of prisoners, sacrifice and other procedures, the physical remains of such practices have largely remained undocumented in the archaeological record. Nevertheless, numerous scholars have tried to identify the victims and the religious and political motivations of ritual violence. Even though motivations varied in specific cases, recent studies have shown that the practice and representation of ritual violence frequently served to degrade opponents and display political dominance.
History of Research
During the 2013 field season, archaeological excavations within an artificial cave at the site of Uxul, Mexico led to the discovery of the bones of approximately 20 individuals. The excavations of the mass grave were carried out within the Uxul Archaeological Project (Department for the Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn), which was directed by Prof. Dr. Nikolai Grube.
The excavation process and the documentation showed that these individuals had been dismembered prior to their deposition. Subsequent analysis of the bone material confirmed the primary field observations since all individuals showed signs of decapitation and dismemberment while most long bones featured distinct cut marks suggesting that the flesh had been scraped off from the limbs before their deposition.
Research objective
Since January 2018, the bone material of the mass grave is the focus of an extensive post-doc project. Apart from determining the age and gender of the buried individuals, the physical anthropological investigation also focuses on the systematic documentation of the location, form, and distribution of traces of physical violence in the bone material. The overall goal of the project is the publication of a monograph in English which reflects the diverse aspects of the Mass Grave of Uxul, incorporates the insights on graphic representations, physical-anthropological investigations and comparable archaeological findings of mass graves from other Maya sites. On that basis, the study will enable a substantiated evaluation of the context and the political function of ritual violence in Classic Maya society.
Key results
The laboratory studies revealed that approximately 20 individuals (men, women, adolescents, infants, and neonates), and various animals were deposited at the bottom of the artificial cave of Uxul. Physical anthropological investigations of the bone material exhibited abundant traces of physical violence revealing a systematic process of manipulation of the buried victims that involved exposure to direct and indirect heat sources, disarticulation, and the removal of soft tissues.
Since 2018, a research scholarship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation enabled an extensive investigation of all recovered bone elements. In order to preserve the fragile material and to enable the investigation of bone elements or larger body segments in the first place, the laboratory investigations were constantly supported and supervised by Leticia Jiménez Hernández, and the staff of the restoration workshop of the Centro INAH Campeche. Additional strontium isotope studies of teeth enamel samples from the buried individuals showed that most of the victims had grown up at least 150 km southwest from Uxul. These results and the insights gained from the anthropological investigations enabled more precise conclusions about the identity of the victims and the possible reason for their killings. Due to the prominent representation of ritual vilence in Classic Maya art, the most plausible expanation for these results is that the majority of the “migrant” victims buried in the artificial cave had spent their childhood in the southern Maya Lowlands and arrived in Uxul in the context of a military conflict.
The systematic osteological analysis showed that all body regions of the buried individuals were affected by cutting marks and traumata, most of which were caused by fine obsidian blades and some by larger flint axes. The fact that these cutting marks tended to re-appear in identical form and in the same anatomical positions suggested that the buried individuals were dismembered and excarnated in a systematic and focused process. Not only were the heads and limbs severed from the bodies, but cutting marks along the muscle insertions of the long bones demonstrated that skin, muscles, and sinews were also removed from the limbs. The location and distribution of cut marks along the long bones showed that the removal of muscle tissue was the primary goals of this process. Cut marks on the exterior of ribs indicated the removal of skin and muscles from the chest and the back. Fractures and cut marks on the sternums also suggested the opening of the chest. Cut marks on the interior surface of the ribs, the interior surface of the hipbone and the front of the sacrum suggested that the organs of the thoracic, abdominal- and pelvic cavity were also removed. In some cases, previously articulated body parts were severed and deliberately scattered far apart from each other.
A comparison of the documented heat traces with published investigations of burning- and heat marks showed that the majority of the body parts were systematically exposed to an indirect heat source of approximately 200°C. The systematic manipulation of human bodies differed notably from the treatment of the animal bodies, which, apart from isolated exceptions, were not excarnated or exposed to a heat source before their deposition. These observations suggest that these animals were buried together with the human body parts as a type of votive offering or animal burial.
Restoration of bone material and publication of context in electronic database
Since 2022, all of the documented bone elements and associated artifacts are conserved in an ambitous restoration project that is funded by the Patrimonies Program of the Gerda Henkel Foundation. In order to monitor and document the different conservation stages, substantiate the wide scope of cultural modifications of the bone elements, and make them visible, accessible and comprehensible to both the general public and the scientfic community, this restoration project also publishes the copious research results in a freely accessible electronic database. The layout and functionality of this electronic database (https://uxulmassgrave.uni-bonn.de/) shall enable a didactic from of knowledge transfer and ensure the general comprehensibility and accessiblity of this exeptional finding.
Project duration: 2018 - June 2024
Funding: Between 2018 and 2021, the Gerda Henkel Foundation supported the project through a research grant, as well as travel and material expenses. Since 2022, the research project is funded by the Patrimonies Program of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, which provides the personnel expenses (project director, database designer, chief restorator and restorations technicians), travel expenses, and material expenses.
Cooperations: Centro INAH Campeche, Sección de Restauración, San Francisco de Campeche, Campeche, Mexico; National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City. Laboratory of Isotopic Chemistry (LUGIS)
