Spare not the women

Archaeologists have entered a long-sealed crypt in Guatemala to find an ancient murder scene. The tomb, in the ancient city of Waká, contains the remains of two women, one pregnant, arranged in a ritual tableau.

Researchers say the young, wealthy women were probably slaughtered as part of a power struggle between Mayan cities. And that, they say, sheds new light on the role of women in the Mayan culture 1,600 years ago.

"This tomb tells us that women were extremely powerful," says Dorie Reents-Budet, a Maya specialist who works for the Smithsonian Institution from North Carolina. "When there were political disagreements, women were killed."

I'm not a specialist, but I wonder if the evidence is more supportive of powerful women or of Mayan ruthlessness.

When one Maya group conquered another, it may not have been enough to simply invade and take over. It may also have been standard practice to slay women of the elite class.

"The usurpation of power may have required the ritual and public extinction of the immediate family line," says [David] Freidel, who runs the Waká project with archaeologist Héctor Escobedo of the University of San Carlos in Guatemala City.

From Nature.

Posted by David on June 10, 2005 1:56 PM