The Jolja’ Cave Project

Introduction

The site of Jolja’ in northeastern Chiapas, México, consists of three separate caves. Although each one contains pre-Columbian artifacts, Cave #1 also has seven groups of Early Classic paintings, including a mural and hieroglyphic texts, which date from A.D. 300-500.  These material remains indicate that the ancient Maya conducted rituals and made offerings to their gods at this sacred site. The contemporary Ch’ol Maya continue to use the caves for similar purposes. They believe a mountain deity called Don Juan inhabits these caves as well as several others in the region, and they perform annual cave ceremonies dedicated to him. This long history of cave use provides a rare opportunity to compare and contrast pre-Columbian and contemporary cave uses. The Jolja’ Cave Project was initiated in the spring of 1999 in order to record and reconstruct the Jolja’ paintings, and to recover as much information as possible regarding the nature of the pre-Columbian and contemporary uses of the caves.

The 2001 fieldwork funded by FAMSI was carried out by Karen Bassie, Robert Laughlin, Christina Halperin, Ausencio Cruz Guzmán, Jorge Pérez de Lara and Alonso Méndez. At the suggestion of Antrop. Héctor Álvarez Santiago (who was then the Director del Centro INAH-Chiapas), INAH archaeologist Andrés Brizuela Casimir accompanied us during the initial visit to Actiepa Yochib and during the first two days of work at the Jolja’ caves. Mtro. Brizuela was then the Coordinador del Proyecto Protección Técnica y Legal del Patrimonio Arqueológico en el estado de Chiapas.

We would not have been able to carry out our research at Jolja’ without the permission and support of the Joloniel community. We deeply thank them for the honor of conducting research in their community. We were directly assisted in our work by numerous members of the Joloniel community, and we acknowledge in particular the contributions of Eulalio Pérez Moreno (the current Comisariado), Domingo Pérez Moreno (President of Joloniel), Manuel Torres Peñate (the former Comisariado of Joloniel) and Felipe Pérez Montejo (the Joloniel tatuch). Special acknowledgment is also given to the tatuches Miguel Arcos Méndez of Tumbalá and Domingo Méndez Montejo of Actiepa Yochib.

We also wish to warmly thank Doc. Enrique Florescano (National Coordinator of Historical Projects), Doc. María Teresa Franco (former Director General of INAH), Doc. Alejandro Martínez Muriel (National Coordinator for Archaeology - INAH), Antrop. Héctor Álvarez Santiago (former Director of INAH-Chiapas) and L.A.E. Juan Antonio Ferrer Aguilar (Director de la Zona Arqueologica Palenque, Yaxchilán y Bonampak) for their support of our project.

We are profoundly grateful to FAMSI for its financial support. Without this important funding, we could not have accomplished our objectives. A number of people have also provided additional financial support, logistical assistance and encouragement. We thank Joel Skidmore, Alfonso Morales, Julie Miller, Dr. Susanna Ekholm, Mary Ciaramella, Dr. Geoffrey McCafferty, Dr. Scott Raymond and Dr. Andrea Stone. Our thanks also go to Fabiola Sánchez, Ian Hollingworth and Alejandro Shesena for sharing their Jolja’ research with us.

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