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Myth and History Reconsidered: Archaeological Implications of Tzotzil-Maya Mythology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J. M. Levi
J. M. Levi*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
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Abstract

This paper traces changing perspectives in archaeology and ethnology regarding the historical content of myth and demonstrates a method whereby mythological data are used to generate hypotheses amenable to falsification when integrated with other data sets. Based on a myth collected among the Tzotzil of San Pablo Chalchihuitan, Chiapas, Mexico, the presentation offers predictions regarding the location, contents, interpretation, and age of an unreported prehistoric burial site. It also sheds light on some currently unexplained aspects of an associated site in a neighboring community, and amplifies other ethnohistorical discussions relating archaeology to contemporary Indian mythology elsewhere in Mesoamerica. By showing how a modern Maya myth reveals significant information about an ancient Maya site, the study illustrates the complementarity of archaeology and ethnography through a suggested relation between myth and history.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , July 1988 , pp. 605 - 619
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1988

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