Keith M. Prufer is an assistant professor of anthropology at Wichita State University. James E. Brady is an associate professor of anthropology at California State University, Los Angeles.

"With Stone Houses and Earth Lords and another collection of broader scope (Brady & Prufer 2005), Maya cave archaeology has become one of the two best-studied traditions of subterranean achaeology in the world. Other than parts of France and Spain, there is no other region with such intensity of research and comparable intensity of ancient use. In no small part, this break-through results from the tenacity of James Brady... Brady can claim to have created a specialty that can now rework prior Mayanist perception of the landscape... The essential point of the chapters is that Maya caves relate to ideas and ritual practice, not to habitation and extraction of resources... The volume contains real surprises. Bradys comparison of finds from caves, especially in the Petexbatun sites, and those from surface excavations willand shouldshock most Mayanists. The sheer quantity of cave finds is stunning, as, incidentally, is their extraordinary preservation." Cambridge Archaeological Journal

• Contents; List of Illustrations; List of Contributors; 1. Introduction: Religion and Role of Caves in Lowland Maya Archaeology; Keith M. Prufer and James E. Brady; Part I. SACRED LANDSCAPE AND ARTIFICIAL CAVES; 2. Replicating the Sacred Landscape: The Chen at Muklebal Tzul; Keith M. Prufer and Andrew Kindon; 3. Caves and Artificial Caves in Late Postclassic Maya Ceremonial Groups; Timothy W. Pugh; 4. Social Power and Sacred Space at Actun Nak Beh, Belize; Christina T. Halperin; 5. Pilgrimage and Caves on Cozumel; Shankari Patel; Part II RECONSTRUCTING RITUAL AND COSMOLOGY; 6. The Impact of Ritual on Ancient Maya Economy; James E. Brady; 7. Scribes and Caves in the Maya Lowlands; Andrea Stone; 8. Nikte Mo' Scattered Fire in the Cave of K'ab Chante': Epigraphic and Archaeological Evidence for Cave Desecration in Ancient Maya Warfare; James E. Brady and Pierre R. Colas; 9. Plants and Caves in Ancient Maya Society; Christopher T. Morehart; 10. The Sweatbath in the Cave: A Modified Passage in Chechem Ha Cave, Belize; Holley Moyes; 11. An Analysis of Ancient Maya Stalactite Breakage at Balam Na Cave, Guatemala; James E. Brady, Allan B. Cobb, Sergio Garza, Cesar Espinosa, and Robert Burnett; 12. De-fanging the Earth Monster: Speleothem Transport to Surface Sites in the Sibun Valley; Polly A. Peterson, Patricia A. McAnany, and Allan B. Cobb; 13. Showing the Way: The Function of Three Small Caves in the Sibun-Manatee Karst; Amalia Kenward; Part III INTERPRETATIONS OF HUMAN SKELETAL MATERIAL IN CAVES; 14. Human Remains in Lowland Maya Caves: Problems of Interpretation; Ann M. Scott and James E. Brady; 15. Mortuary Practices of the Prehistoric Maya from Caves Branch Rock Shelter, Belize; David M. Glassman and Juan Luis Bonor Villarejo; 16. Nearer to the Gods: Rockshelter Burials from the Ek Xux Valley, Belize; Julie Mather Saul, Keith M. Prufer, and Frank P. Saul; 17. A Question of Sacrifice: Classic Maya Cave Mortuary Practices at Barton Creek Cave, Belize; Vanessa A. Owen; 18. What Can the Bones Really Tell Us? The Study of Human Skeletal Remains from Cenotes; Vera Tiesler; 19. Maya Cave Archaeology: A New Look at Religion and Cosmology; James E. Brady and Keith M. Prufer; Index