Chen K’u: The Ceramic of the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá
Study of the Ceramic Fragments of the Explorations Conducted in the 60’s

Sotuta Horizon (850 - 1150 CE)

The ceramic of the Sotuta horizon is associated with the maximum development of Chichén Itzá, and it is consistent at least with the so called "Toltec" architecture of the site. The ceramic analysis of the Chichén Itzá Project actually suggests the beginning of the Sotuta Complex circa 850 CE, which would partially overlap with the Cehpech Horizon at a regional level, although as we have previously pointed out, the Cehpech and Sotuta complexes from Chichén Itzá are basically sequential. This implies that the construction of buildings during the second half of the IX century share the same Sotuta ceramics with later buildings such as the Ossuary, dated at the late X century. Currently, one of the objectives of the ceramic analysis of the Chichén Itzá Project consists in the differentiation of the possible early and late facets of the Sotuta Complex, but this is an ongoing work which requires modal and typological analysis as well as the analysis of a larger number of stratigraphic pits.

The Sotuta ceramic from the Sacred Cenote, with 22,352 fragments representing 31.3% of the total collection, is distributed in 29 different types. The Sisal Unslipped ware with 873 sherds comprising incense burners and striated pitchers is among the less represented types, hardly accounting for 3.9% of the collection, while in other contexts at Chichén Itzá this ware displays percentages that range between 40 and 60%.  This indicates a poor presence both of unslipped bi-conical incense burners and striated pitchers to store liquids.

The Slate ware, with 18,385 sherds, represents the largest portion (82.2%) of this horizon. ⁴   There is a remarkable abundance of the Dzitás Slate and Balantún Black on Slate types, as well as a series of decorated types that include Balancanché Red on Slate, Chacmay Incised and Tekom Notched-Incised. This is a rather high percentage, given the fact that the Slate ware in other contexts from Chichén Itzá fluctuates around 30-40%. It is possible that artifacts corresponding to the Say Slate ware of the Motul Complex were identified as Dzitás Slate, given the difficulty in differentiating between these Slates when the parts are not diagnostic. In the case of the Say Slate artifacts, identification largely depends on the slip, which because of the time spent inside the Cenote, may loose shine and color. Therefore, it is assumed that the number of Slate artifacts of the Dzitás ware may possibly be over-represented.

The Dzibiac Red Ware presents a percentage of 9.28% of the collection, very similar to other contexts from Chichén Itzá.

The Silho Fine Orange Ware, a ceramic possibly imported from the Gulf area, presents a total of 831 sherds, making it the fourth best represented ware with 3.7% of the Sotuta Complex, much better represented than in other places at Chichén Itzá, where percentages are lower than 2%. Here, it is easy to assume that complete or semi-complete pieces of this ware have been sent to various museums in Mexico.

Tohil Plumbate, another foreign ware originated in the Pacific Coast of Guatemala and in Chiapas (Tajumulco) is only represented by seven sherds, and in other areas of Chichén the percentages are higher; therefore it is our belief that the fragments of this type of ware may have been pre-selected by the cataloguers of the expedition conducted in the 60’s.

The Tinum ware, a ritual ceramic group that displays specular hematite decoration on orange or cinnamon backgrounds, was defined as a type by R.E. Smith (1971). Currently, we are working on the definition of the Tinum ware which adopts forms of incense burners (sahumadores), censers of the "Mixteco" type, tecomates and small pitchers (among others). Tinum is present with 60 sherds. The Tinum ware, locally manufactured with pastes identical to those of Dzitás Slate according to visual observations confirmed through petrographic analysis (Carmen Varela, 1997, personal communication), was inspired by samples imported from the Altiplano area, some of which may even have originated in the Cholula area (P.J. Schmidt, personal communication), and are also present in our collection (51 fragments). The percentage of Tinum ware is very similar to that found in other parts of the site.

Finally, we should mention the presence of a support of the Nicoya or Papagayo Polychrome type originating from Central America. Less than ten sherds of this Central American ceramic have been found so far at the site.

The Functionality of the Sacred Cenote during the Sotuta Complex

Traditionally, the functions attributed to the Sacred Cenote are the following:

• Water supply source;

• Place of ritual offerings;

• Place for human sacrifices; and

• Oracle of the Rain God.

Nevertheless, chronology has not been taken into account at the time of proposing the above functions, and many interpretations have been dominated by romantic myths and sacrifices of maidens. While the function as a water supply is fully demonstrated by the predominance of pitchers among the ceramics recovered, it is fitting to consider that the Sacred Cenote’s water may have had as well, at least at some point, a sacred character.

As to its function as recipient of offerings, this is a function rather hard to demonstrate for any of the time frames when the Cenote was in use. The presence of luxury objects and imported goods at the bottom of the Cenote does not necessarily mean that they were cast there as offerings. Ball (1992) has proposed the alternative idea of a massive termination event. The possibility also exists that the pieces were cast there in a premeditated act of destruction, perhaps as a result of a military conflict. And it could also be the product of using the Cenote as a refuse dump for prolonged periods of time.

Therefore, the possibilities are varied, but proving some or all of them is by no means simple. A study of the all materials as a whole would be required, trying not to jump to hasty conclusions based on preconceived notions.

Something similar can be said of the sacrifice ceremonies and the Cenote’s function as an oracle. The Sacred Cenote cannot be viewed as an isolated trait but on the contrary, it should be measured within the ritual system of which it was a part, as the culmination of the ritual array of the Great Leveling.

Click on image to enlarge

While reviewing the Sotuta Complex with respect to the vessel forms studied, we observe that only 490 sherds (2.1% of the Complex) derive from coarse incense burners, which are very abundant in the building contexts at the site, particularly in the Colonnades, where at least once (structure 3D7 of the Northeast Colonnade) they are directly associated with Chac Mol sculptures (José Osorio, personal communication). The unslipped censers in their Spouted Appliqué and Cumtún Composite versions are associated with the cult of the rain god at the Balancanché caves (Andrews IV, 1970).

This paucity of unslipped censers at the Cenote is in contrast with the remarkable abundance of pitchers: 18,539 sherds representing 82.9% of the complex. These pitchers are both of large and medium size, whose function was clearly related to the provisioning of water, but they include as well small globular, thin walled jars, some of them with decorations, which may be considered within the category of possible offerings of fine and imported vessels. They may have been offerings to the Cenote, or used in the rituals that culminated at the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá. The Mixtec censers should be included here, as well as the incense burners and molcajetes decorated with hematite, both local (of the Tinum type) and imported.

Perhaps these rituals involved more domestic utensils as well, such as Pots (2,877 sherds; 12.8%); and in a much lesser degree Cajetes (163 sherds: 0.7%); Vases (66 sherds: 0.2%) and perhaps Molcajetes (24 sherds: 0.1%).

In short, the Sotuta ceramic from the Cenote shows the utilization of water with a greater intensity than in earlier times, but at the same time a number of fine and imported vessels that would evidence the final rituals enacted at the side of the Cenote or that were cast there as offerings.

Although Tozzer (1957: 200) affirms that the two fundamental purposes of the rituals conducted at the Cenote were petitioning for rain and forecasting the harvests, the associated iconography throughout the Sotuta timeframe indicates that their meaning, at least during the peak of the city, was instead related to the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcóatl-Kukulkán) and the warfare rituals. The north-south ritual axis seems to be the logical continuation of the east-west axis that connects the Temple of the Warriors with the Ballgame, and whose relation with war is clear in the iconography.

The north-south axis presents the descent of the feathered serpent along the beams of the castle’s stairs. The Venus platform continues this relationship with the feathered serpent, and this association could be older. Excavated by Le Plongeon in 1883, the interior showed a number of serpent sculptures and stone piles painted in blue and red which possibly formed the substructure of this platform. The serpent’s descent from the Castle continues in Sacbé 1, whose two small lateral walls terminated in two serpent heads (Pérez de Heredia y Victoria, 1997). The heads, recovered from the interior of the Cenote by Piña Chan and W. Folan, convert the Sacbé into an enormous serpent.

A possible representation of the Sacred Cenote in a vault cover of the Temple of the Owls (shown on the cover of this work), with a representation of the feathered serpent in its interior, confirms the belief that the serpent in fact descended to this well. We may also mention here that a recurrent design in the local decorated wares is that of intertwined serpents.

Evidence comparable to that of the Sacred Cenote was recovered by the author at the beginning of Sacbé 1 in 1993 and 1994, when the Chichén Itzá Project conducted excavations at the Great Platform (Pérez de Heredia, 1994; 1995). Here, an altar linked to the beginning of Sacbé 1 which connects with the Sacred Cenote was discovered, one that possibly served ritual functions. A lateral test pit made at the Sacbé and this altar revealed a ritual deposit associated with Sotuta ceramics, which included other materials also present at the Cenote, such as skulls, mandibles and long bones, burnt arrow points and shell and jade beads similarly burnt, unslipped censers and other wares (Pérez de Heredia, 1997).

Thus, the rituals celebrated here included the burning of arrow points, as shown in some bas-reliefs from the site, as well as the burning of copal in large censers and the secondary deposit of human bones (mainly male and female adults), many of which were intentionally broken and burnt (Arias and Pérez de Heredia, 1998).

In sum, the Worship of the Sacred Cenote during the Sotuta times is connected with the Feathered Serpent and Warrior Rituals, as a culmination of the Warfare-Sacrifice Complex that conceptually dominates the Great Platform at Chichén Itzá.

It is difficult to determine whether there was any worship of the Sacred Cenote during the early Sotuta times, although some data seems to suggest that in fact, the Cenote was the subject of particular consideration at that time. Nikolai Grube has identified phrases in the inscriptions of Las Monjas denominating the water of the Sacred Cenote as ’Sak Nab’ or ’Pure Sea’. The inscriptions refer "to look in" or "to conjure" the Sak Nab. Sak means ’white’ or ’pure’, while Nab stands for ’lake’ or ’sea’ (in Schele and Matthews, 1998, Note 36, p. 369).

The presence of fine and imported wares such as Silho, Plumbate, Tinum and Nicoya suggests that these rituals correspond to a fully developed phase of the Sotuta complex.

Endnote

4. For the time being, this figure must be considered as tentative, as it is possible that a good number of artifacts may in fact pertain to Early Motul Slate.

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