Observations on archaeological evidence of a "ritual dump" multiple burial in Coyoacán

Abstract

According to Debra Nagao’s revision of studies on buried offerings in Mesoamerica, at the beginning of the twentieth century, not much attention was given to objects that occurred in large quantities in ritual deposits. “Ordinary” objects or items for “daily” use in caches were ignored because of their “non-ritual” character. Analysis was focused basically on complete pieces, while sherds or fragmentary remains were not taken into account (Nagao, 1985: 6-10). However, the idea of domestic or utilitarian, as opposed to “ritual” items, overlooks Durkheim’s (2000: 330) at the beginning of the 20th contury, early consideration that sacred forces can be revealed in any form, even in the most “insignificant” objects. With Durkheim’s lesson in mind, how can we in terpret an archaeological context that consists of limited accumulations of large fragments of household pottery and other miscellaneous objects, together with disarticulated multiple human and animal bones; all of this exposed to fire and deposited without any stratigraphic differentiation? In this article, we analyze such a deposit found in Coyoacan, in the Basin of Mexico, which can be defined as “ritual debris”, the result of a series of sacred rites,  characterized by the collective consumption of food and drink. Recent studies have adopted new approaches to the study and interpretation of “feasting debris”. Similar Mesoamerican practices have been associated basically with cyclical feasting, strongly supported by ethnohistorical documentation. However, we also consider a few examples beyond Mesoamerica. In this study, we reflect on the identification of these particular archaeological contexts.