Sacrifice, Subsistence, and Sacra in Stela Cave: Maya Ritual Practice in Patterns of Ceremonial Chipped Stone

Located in the Macal River Valley of Belize, Stela Cave was an important ceremonial space for the ancient Maya in the Classic period (ca. a.d. 250–900). Surface collection and excavations in the cave produced an assemblage of chipped stone artifacts mostly consisting of debitage with relatively few finished tools. Microscopic usewear analysis revealed that most of the chipped stone artifacts were likely used for domestic and subsistence activities outside the cave before being brought into the cave for deposition. However, others may have been used within the cave itself for religious rituals, such as sacrifice, bloodletting, and ritual crafting. Both used and unused chipped stone tools and debitage were left in the cave as gifts or sacra to ancestors and supernatural entities by the ancient Maya. Similar patterns of chipped stone tool production and use have been observed in other caves and rockshelters throughout the Maya lowlands.