PRECOLUMBIAN BURIAL CUSTOMS IN MESOAMERICA

Regarding culture-history of Mesoamerica, many are naive about funerary customs and mortuary caves. Four reasons are cited:

1. Usually, archaeologists are not "cavers" and do not boldly search underground places; consequently, most mortuary caves have been ignored.
2. Mortuary caves were sealed at the time of the European conquest. Subsequently, the locale was often designated as a site of pilgrimage under the guise of Christian rites. To excavate now involves political or religious complications.
3. Europeans came to steal; by bribery or torture, some mortuary caves were disclosed; they were plundered and again closed.
4. the archaeology of tombs is often wrongly associated with dilettante ventures where the labor is conducted merely for amusement, treasure, or fame.

The anthropology of burial customs tells a common practice for Mesoamerica. The deceased were interred under floors or within walls of houses, palaces, or other monumental architecture. For two hundred years before the Spanish conquest ( 1519 A.D.), the Aztecs followed this, along with a practice of cremation.

A theory is that Quetzalcoatl taught a distinct funerary tradition. A doctrine where people, their extended families, along with genealogies, were buried in mortuary caves. As for the Aztecs, they were a nomadic tribe from the north. Their god was not Quetzalcoatl, nor did they obey his laws. In fact, they were idolaters and worshiped many gods. And their funerary custom was to practice cremation.

It's unfortunate that history tends to judge Mexico by the Aztec empire. They were largely foreigners without birthright or patrimony. The Aztec nobility recognized this and married into surviving Toltec lineages. Yet they never earned a pedigreed charter to govern Mexico. So realizing their barbarian roots, it induced a national psychosis sponsoring massive human sacrifice to appease the gods.

Nevertheless, Aztec royalty did incorporate caves for ritual use Or they were aware of mortuary caves dating prior to their reign. Consider the "place of the dead" or "house of the sun" or house of cintli." The Aztec king received awful reports about conquest by the Spaniards along the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, a 16th century historian, wrote:

"After this information from his messengers, Motecuhzoma was even more disturbed... Filled with dread and uncertainty, he thought of retiring to the ancient sanctuaries and waiting there for whatever would happen. He was especially concerned to know if the gods (conquistadors) wanted to meet him."

"And when Moctecuhzoma learned that they asked about him, that they were inquiring about his person, that the gods wanted to see his face, then his heart beat fast, he was terrified, he wanted to flee... He conceived a plan; he meditated and he continued meditating about going to some remote cave."

"And to some of those in whom he had great confidence, whose hearts were trustworthy, he made this known to them. They said to him:

"We know the Place of the Dead, the House of the Sun, the Land of Tlaloc, and the House of Cintli. You would have to go there. To whichever you prefer."

Before the Aztecs, there was over one thousand years of civilization. Perhaps we need to look more closely at mortuary customs during this era. Several burial grounds lie hidden. In some cases, they are subterranean funerary temples. To cite an example, a Master's thesis entitled "Mountains and Caves in preHispanic Thought," by Jaime Espinosa Ramos concludes that the Mixtecs and Zapotecs buried their nobles in caverns.

Natural Caverns as a Burial Ground

Citing the historian Bancroft, he recorded that "A similar statute is mentioned by Burgoa, as having existed in a cave not far from Xustlahuaca in Mistecapan, where it stood near the entrance on a marble monolith eleven feet in height. The approach to the cavern appears to have formerly led through a beautiful garden; within were masses of stalactite of the most fantastic and varied forms, many of which the people had fashioned into images of different kinds, and of the most artistic execution, says the padre, whose fancy was doubtless aided by the twilight within. Here lay the embalmed bodies of kings and pontiffs, surrounded by treasures, for this was a supposed entrance to the flowered fields of heaven.

"The temple cave at Mictlan bore a similar reputation, and served as a sepulchre for the Zapotec grandees. It consisted of four chief divisions, the largest forming the sanctuary proper, the second and third the tombs of kings and pontiffs, and the fourth a vestibule to an immense labyrinthine grotto in which brave warriors were occasionally buried... the entrance was closed with a great stone..."

"The Mixtecs placed the gates of paradise within the cavern of Chalcatongo and the grandees of the kingdom were eager to be buried within its precincts... The Zapotecs placed the heavenly portals within the cave of Mictlan.

"...the custom of placing the dead with their feet towards the east indicates that it lay toward the sunny morning land... The Zapotecs gave as a reason for interring the dead, that those who were burned failed to reach heaven."

"One of the earliest conquests of the Zapotec kings was that of the Mountain of the Sun, near the town of Macuilxuchil."

The Zapotecs of Tehuantepec, Mexico called their priests "copabitoo" or "The Guardians of the Sanctuary."

"One cave found near the ruins of Copan is the cave of Tibulca. This appears like a temple of great size, hollowed out of the base of a hill, and adorned with columns having bases, pedestals, capitals

and crowns, all accurately adjusted according to architectural principles...

(The Native Races. Vols III & IV, by Hubert H. Bancroft)

Regarding caves in Chiapas that contain human skeletal remains, Nuñez de la Vega (1702) says that Indians revered the bones of their founding ancestors. Stone (1995) writes that "The use of caves for burial is also well documented in Oaxaca. The remarkable cave of Ejutla in the Mixteca Alta is a Postclassic site with at least forty-five cells built into the cave wall and used as tombs." Or there is the Olmec paintings deep within the cave of Juxtlahuaca, again marking a subterranean place of sanctuary.

In summary, ancient chronicles describe mortuary caverns at Tlaxiaco and near Achiuhtla, a repository named La Candelaria with thousands of bodies wrapped in reed mats, a ceremonial cave at Mount Tlaloc, the famous seven caves in Chicomoztoc, a cemetery within a limestone formation at Acatzingo, and so forth.

An Ancient Map

To preface a review of MC2, keep in mind that the Toltec empire settled in the modern states of Morelos, Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, and Hidalgo. A region with archaeological sites like Cholula with the largest pyramid on the western hemisphere, or Teotihuacan with its magnificent Pyramid of the Sun. Strangely enough, this region is depicted by an ancient map and its message is about mortuary caves.

The village of Cuauhtinchan in the valley of Puebla. Within a church were found old documents, one of which was the Map of Cuauhtinchan Num. II (known as MC2). The last edition of this map was made over 400 years ago. An analysis of MC2 indicates that it is a copy, of a copy, extending back for centuries.

In 1968, the anthropologist Bittman-Simons wrote a publication on MC2. Her conclusion was that hieroglyphic signs (locative glyphs) depict ceremonial caves. But their location remained an academic mystery. Fortunately, as a result of native informants and an expert on the decipherment of maps, this enigma is being solved.

Mortuary Caves Depicted as a Reed Shrine

In ancient Mexico, there was a dependency on the natural environment for signs or symbols to communicate an idea. Tozzer ( 1911 ) wrote that "...much that appears as mere decoration, as ornament, on the sculptured facades of the buildings and on the bas-reliefs are far more than decorative designs. There is, in every case, a meaning, however hidden it may be by the complication of the design."

The MC2 locative hieroglyphs don't show a cave with its rough, natural opening. The glyph is a stepped structure, a quatrefoil design. Its exterior is adorned with decorative emblems. At first glance, it appears as corn stalks or tassels of green feathers or whiskers of a feline. A closer examination shows the structural design with marsh plants of the cattail variety. It is a stepped entrance way fashioned with reeds.

The reed shrine is symbolic of access to mortuary caves in the lineage mountains of Quetzalcoatl. According to the traditions of their fathers, the Toltec religious aristocracy petitioned for burial in these sacred places. They were the pedigreed elite who traced their royal genealogy to the Ancient of Days, to the Beginning of Time, and kept their records accordingly.

Quetzalcoatl was attributed with Mexico's preClassic "Golden Age" as the god of civilization and learning.

"Only one god did they have... his name was Quetzalcoatl. The supreme guardian of their god, his priest, his name was also Quetzalcoatl."
[An ancient Toltec hymn]

Quetzalcoatl - the Most High God; a monotheistic deity; high priest, king, and intercessor to those who lie in royal tombs. Seated on a reed throne at the entry to a mortuary temple. His garment is a white robe. Lord of the caverns, he faces outside, towards the east.