Dispositions of the Dead: Spanish Contact Period Burial Patterns in the Southern Maya Lowlands

Human burials identified and examined at the ancient Maya site of Lamanai, Belize provide some insights into the impacts of Spanish colonialism on traditional Maya lifeways. In a great number of instances the Maya of Lamanai appear to have adopted the tenets of Catholicism and thus were baptized and later buried in one of the Spanish colonial mission churches at the site. In other cases, however, it appears that some residents of the contact period community were buried in more traditional positions typical of interments dating from preolumbian times. Both flexed and seated burials, coeval with those excavated in the Spanish churches, are present throughout the extent of the colonial community. This research examines the contexts and dispositions of burials dating from Spanish contact at Lamanai and compares these with burial patterns reported from contemporaneous sites in the Southern Maya Lowlands.

Dispositions of the Dead: Spanish Contact Period Burial Patterns in the Southern Maya Lowlands Presentation