By Ancient Art Archive
Stephen Alvarez
Western Passage Naj Tunich (Maya Classic) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
Today, the importance of caves -- and the symbols they contain -- to pre-contact Mesoamerican belief systems seems obvious. When they were discovered in 1979, however, the notion was revolutionary.
The pictographs (painted drawings) in Naj Tunich cave rocked the world of Maya archaeology, fueling fresh research into the importance of caves as sites of Maya pilgrimage and worship.
Drawing 87 Naj Tunich (Maya Classic) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
The artwork inside the cave is about 2,000 years old. The original artists created their delicate images with black paint that still hasn’t completely dried. This image is of Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the hero twins of the Popol Vuh.
Figures 20-23 Naj Tunich (Maya Classic) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
Sadly, much of the artwork in Naj Tunich cave was destroyed in a labor dispute shortly after its discovery. In 1994, the Guatemalan Government permanently closed the cave to protect the art that remained.
Figure 83 Naj Tunich (Maya Classic) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
In 2003, I received special permission to enter Naj Tunich solely to photograph the artwork. Awe overwhelmed me as I entered the cave and stood before the surviving paintings.
But what surprised me most on that trip was being surrounded by machete-toting residents of La Compuerta when I left the cave one evening. None of them had ever entered the cave, but they understood it as a place of power and an important ritual space. They insisted I attend a harvest ritual in the coming fall. It felt like an offer I couldn’t refuse, so I returned.
The ritual began in the evening at the house of Don Vicente Cucul, the keeper of the town's Mayan calendar. He prepared the ceremony, assembling offerings of copal incense, candles, tobacco, herbs, and liquor that would be sacrificed the following dawn.
Maya Ceremonty La Compuerta (2003/2003) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
At his home that evening, fragrant copal burned. Men and women prayed over the offerings. Music, dancing, feasting, and laughing lasted all night.
At dawn, Don Vicente gathered the offerings, took fire from his house, and led a procession to the cave's entrance.
Naj Tunich Ceremony (2003/2003) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
Using granulated sugar, he poured a cross on the floor to correspond to the cardinal directions. He then poured a sugar circle around it -- a model of the world. Men and women intoned prayers to the four directions, then lit the offerings of herbs, candles and tobacco on fire.
Naj Tunich Ceremony (2003/2003) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
As the sacrificial fire spread, men danced around the swirling flames, throwing seeds into the blaze.
The cave’s huge entrance chamber filled with smoke. Eventually, the people made their way slowly out of the cave and returned to town.
The Maya of La Compuerta are thoroughly modern people. They aren’t living in the past. Their connection to Naj Tunich and Maya worship is a living belief that coexists with their Christian faith and helps define a connection to deep culture.
Pictogrpahs naj Tunich (Maya Classic) by Stephen AlvarezAncient Art Archive
I was left feeling that the artwork inside the cave provides a direct connection between the modern Maya and their predecessors.
Even though they live by the cave, none of the residents of La Compuerta has ever seen the artwork their forbearers had created within. One of the animating ideas of the nonprofit Ancient Art Archive is to provide digital access to physically inaccessible cultural history. It is our hope that these digital images of Naj Tunich will help the people of La Compuerta connect with the cave's incredible artwork.
Stephen Alvarez
