Ash, dirt, and rock: Burial practices at Río Bec

Abstract

Recent research at Río Bec has revealed that interments in residential structures were limited to a very small portion of the population. Although these burials are relatively modest compared to those found in many other Classic period Maya sites, the funerary procedure suggests that they were important individuals in the household. Grave wealth and the size/elaboration of the burial structure do not correlate with the striking socioeconomic differences expressed in residential architecture. In fact, it seems that Río Bec funerary ritual was a private affair focused within the domestic unit, rather than a public display. A study of the variation found among these residential burials reveals two important patterns of mortuary ritual that seem more reflective of ancestor veneration than of social hierarchy: (1) transition burials (stressing centrality, verticality, the link to earth, and the transformations of the dwelling) and (2) occupation burials (stressing laterality, horizontality, a link to fire and the domestic hearth, and the permanence of the domestic space). Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014.