In the Maw of the Earth Monster: Mesoamerican Ritual Cave Use

Chapter 5: Pre-Hispanic Rain Ceremonies in Blade Cave, Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, Mexico

CHAPTER 5 Pre-Hispanic Rain Ceremonies in Blade Cave, Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca, Mexico janet fitzsimmons Although Oaxaca is one of the great karstic regions in Mesoamerica, relatively little archaeological investigation has been undertaken in its caves. To date, only four major archaeological caves have been reported in any detail. Our knowledge of Oaxaca is particularly incomplete because the cave sites are located among only two or three ethnic groups (Figure 5.1). Pre-Hispanic cave use is currently known from the Cueva de Ejutla burial site in the Mixtec/Cuicatec region (Moser 1975, 1976, 1983) and Cueva Cheve in the Cuicatec Highlands (González Licón and Márquez Morfín 1994; Steele and Snavely 1997). In the Mazatec area, there are reports for the Cueva de Tenango (Winter 1984), and the caves of the Cerro Rabón (Bitterli 1996; Hapka and Rouvinez 1994, 1997). The purpose of this chapter is to report on a fifth cave, Blade Cave, also in the Mazatec area. Blade Cave, located approximately 120 kilometers north-northwest of Oaxaca City, was discovered in 1985 by a group of speleologists who, since that time, have fielded expeditions to Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, in an attempt to prove that the Huautla cave system is the deepest in the world. The chambers in Blade Cave containing archaeological material were discovered on April 12, 1985, by Frank Bogle and Paul Wojtkowski. I directed the archaeological exploration of the cave between 1985 and 1987 as a member of the Huautla Project, which was codirected by Jim Smith and Bill Steele. The cave, named for an 18centimeter -long bifacially chipped blade, was reported to the Oaxaca Regional Office of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. In the Mexican literature , the cave has been referred to as the Cueva de los Pedernales (Winter 1990:124). The cave is set in a karst formation about eighteen hundred meters above sea level in the approximate center of the Sierra Mazateca. The area is isolated, and the small cave entrance is only occasionally visited by local goatherds. The 92 Oaxaca Figure 5.1. The Sierra Mazateca and Blade Cave. chambers containing archaeological material are tucked away within the cave and can be accessed only by squeezing through a tight hole. The chambers are wet with active formations. Water drips from the walls and ceiling and pools behind shallow rimstone dams. Methods The cave was surveyed using standards developed by the Cave Research Foundation in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (Freeman 1975:59). The mapping was carried out using a Suunto compass together with a Suunto inclinometer to measure vertical angles, and distances were measured with a tape measure. When the cave was discovered, the absence of recent tracks and the presence of easily transportable artifacts such as ceramic vessels and jade suggested that the chambers were undisturbed. Three chambers containing archaeological material were located. Each chamber was divided into zones to facilitate recording. Zones contain a cluster of cultural material or a recognizable geological entity. Zone boundaries were arbitrarily defined to encompass artifact concentrations. The research design was adapted from that developed by Watson (1974:28–29) in Salts Cave to record material qualitatively by its nature and relative density. The technique focused on describing the interrelationship of ‘‘clusters’’ of artifacts rather than individual pieces. Each zone was photographed and sketched and a written description was made. Pre-Hispanic Rain Ceremonies in Blade Cave 93 Chamber Descriptions The three archaeological areas in Blade Cave are referred to as Chambers 1, 2, and 3 (Figure 5.2). Chamber 1 is connected, via a restricted squeeze, to the main cave passage. The room, trending toward the northeast, is approximately ten meters in length, four meters wide, and perhaps five meters high. Chamber 2 extends some twenty meters to the northwest and averages four meters in width. Chamber 3 extends thirty meters and turns back to the southeast as the passage Figure 5.2. The three chambers of Blade Cave containing archaeological material. The letters refer to Zones described in the text. 94 Oaxaca climbs up to a fifteen-meter-high balcony, which was a focus for ancient human activity. To facilitate the documentation of artifacts, we subdivided rooms into zones around artifact concentrations. Chamber 1 contains Zones A, B, C, and G; Chamber 2 is divided into Zones D, E, and F; and Zones H, I, and J are in Chamber 3. Chamber...