ABSTRACT
The cosmology of Maya peoples occupying the tropical karstic landscape of the Yucatan Peninsula includes interconnected spheres of ocean, atmosphere and groundwater linked to cycles of life and death. Deep caves and cenotes reaching the permanent groundwater table are viewed as sacred portals: points of connection with the watery underworld and its associated deities. For millennia, these portals have been places of rituals, especially those linked to life-giving rain. In ancient Maya towns, caves and cenotes were often centering points around which place identity formed and sacred architecture arose. Some of the architecture both literally and symbolically harvested rainwater for storage and use during the region’s five-month-long dry season. Such architecture was symbolically, and sometimes physically, linked to caves and cenotes.
