Last night director of the Institute of Archaeology Dr. Jaime Awe took us into the caves of western Belize and illustrated how central the underworld was to Mayan ritual. Tonight we go back to those caves where he shows us that more than just human sacrifice was happening in those caves; there was also ritualistic bloodletting.
Dr. Jaime Awe, Director of Archaeology
"When we go into these caves we find evidence that the Maya entered these sites to commune, to communicate with these gods in an effort to ensure that their livelihood was ensured. The Maya let blood in various ways. They would sometimes pierce the tongue or the penis and offer blood to the gods. Here you can see in this picture or its actually a carving in stone from a site in Mexico. There is this woman, she is kneeling down, look at this dish, this big dish, with paper in it, and she is pulling a string with either pieces of torn through her tongue. Notice her mouth is open and the tongue and the blood drips onto the paper on this dish, and it is possible that she might be doing this in a cave or in a dark room or at night.
This time the woman there is pulling the rope through her tongue but now the husband is sitting down. Here is the little dish. You can see the paper and you can see the blood drops. Look at these two figurines. This one from the state of Campeche. Here you can see the individual holding a sharp object and actually preparing to cut the penis to offer blood. Here this figurine shows the individual with the dish.
What did we find at this chamber at Aktun Tunichil Muknal. We found these dishes and we found the bloodletting implements. So we know that Maya liked bloodletting."
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
