Association With Settlement
A desire to be near the sacred has influenced Mesoamerican settlement. Mountains and caves were important elements in Mesoamerican creation myths. Mesoamerican belief systems liken water to fertility and mountains give flowing water and rainfall through caves. Accordingly, these natural features were considered sacred and were sought out by Mesoamerican migrants looking for a new home. A cave could be considered an axis mundi if it marked the center of a village (Brady and Ashmore 1999: 127). The Late Postclassic site of Mayapan incorporated several cenotes into its ceremonial groups and the Cenote Ch’en Mul is at the site core. At Dos Pilas house platforms were often in front of cave entries and the tunnel went beneath the platform.
Read more about this topic: Maya Cave Sites
Famous quotes containing the words association with, association and/or settlement:
“Association with other people corrupts our character Mespecially when we have none.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“They that have grown old in a single state are generally found to be morose, fretful and captious; tenacious of their own practices and maxims; soon offended by contradiction or negligence; and impatient of any association but with those that will watch their nod, and submit themselves to unlimited authority.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)