SOLVING THE RIDDLE OF THE DESERT GLASS

Vincenzo de Michele visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and noticed that one of King Tutankhamun’s jeweled breastplates contained a carved scarab that looked suspiciously like a piece of the glass. A simple optical measurement confirmed the match in 1998.

The mysterious glass “yellowgreen jewels that have smooth surfaces sculpted by the incessant wind.”

Red Storm simulated the airburst and impact of a 120-meter diameter stony asteroid, shown in this sequence. Meteoric vapor mixes with the atmosphere to form an opaque fireball with a temperature of thousands of degrees. The hot vapor cloud expands to a diameter of 10 km within seconds, still in contact with the surface.

It was in 1932 that British explorers in Model-A Fords first visited this area of western Egypt, where they discovered a mysterious yellow-green glass scattered across the surface. Ever since, Libyan Desert Glass has fascinated scientists, who have dreamed up all sorts of ideas about how it could have formed. It’s too silicarich to be volcanic. In some ways it resembles the tektites generated by the high pressures associated with asteroid impacts. That observation is the starting point of a scientific debate that became the subject of the documentary filmed for National Geographic and BBC.

I was chosen to participate in the role of a dissenter from the preferred explanation that the glass was formed by direct shock-melting by a crater-forming asteroid impact. I had stumbled into the debate by accident in 1996, when I attended a conference on the subject of the 1908 explosion of an asteroid or comet that knocked down nearly a thousand square miles of trees in Siberia. I stayed an extra day to attend a meeting about the desert glass, where I argued that similar — but larger — atmospheric explosions could create fireballs that would be large and hot enough to fuse surface materials to glass, much like the first atomic explosion generated green glass at the Trinity site in 1945.

King Tut connection

Shortly after that workshop, one of the Italian organizers made a discovery that raised public interest in the subject. Vincenzo de Michele visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and noticed that one of King Tutankhamun’s jeweled breastplates contained a carved scarab that looked suspiciously like a piece of the glass. A simple optical measurement confirmed the match in 1998. The connection of a catastrophic explosion with the treasures of ancient Egypt became a sure-fire formula for a documentary.

Last December, when I was first asked by the producer to be interviewed, I was a little skeptical. After all, television is known more for sensationalism than for scientific accuracy, and the King Tut connection had fueled pseudoscientific speculation on the web. One website even presents fanciful “Evidence for Ancient Atomic War,” making the case that Egyptians had detonated nuclear weapons (but ignoring the fact that the glass is 29 million years old). Did I want to be part of this?

Fortunately, I was assured by other scientists that this would be a legitimate documentary that would focus on natural explanations for this enigmatic glass. In February, I found myself in Cairo with Dr. de Michele, getting a firsthand look at King Tut’s glass scarab and preparing for nine days in the desert.

Great Sand Sea

Our jumping-off point was the Bahariya Oasis, a large valley of villages and adobe houses. After the 300-kilometer drive on a two-lane highway through the lifeless desert, the irrigated fields were startlingly green — the last green we would see for some time.

Leaving the road, we embark on a 1,000-km voyage across the Great Sand Sea. Despite the lack of water, that name is apt. Like mariners, we don’t follow a specified route. We are guided by the sun, compasses, dead-reckoning, and (like modern sailors) GPS. If the dunes are the swells of the open ocean, our first day’s trip is an excursion though a field of icebergs. Towering monuments, hoodoos, and mesas of stark white limestone provide a maze through which we meander, opening up to a featureless flat sand plain.

Our Egyptian outfitter, his French partner, and the local drivers and crew make this trip several times every year. They plot their GPS tracks on satellite images downloaded from the web. They never repeat the same route, but offset their trips by enough distance that they explore parts of the desert that have never been crossed before.

Bedouin-style tea

February in the Sahara is cool, and the wind blows so hard on the Great Sand Sea that it can be hazy like a marine fog. Our meals here are accompanied with sugar saturated tea brewed Bedouin-style over an open flame of apricot wood carried from the orchards of Bahariya.

To the southwest, the rolling sand builds to great dunes and the sea rises. Vehicles frequently get stuck and have to be rescued by digging and driving them up special aluminum ramps. It takes a special sailor’s eye to distinguish between a safe hard surface and the treacherous soft sand, especially at 100 kilometers/hour. Arabic, French, and English conversations crackle over the radio, and throbbing Egyptian music plays on the driver’s iPod.

He approached the assignment with some healthy skepticism, but now believes the effort bore some scientific fruit. Just before we reach the site of the glass, the dunes become linear — unbroken parallel ranges running north-south for hundreds of kilometers. Here we must carefully pick our crossings, and then we run at high speed southward in the corridors between the dunes, the “freeways” that have been used by nomads for centuries (as evidenced by 100-year-old camel skeletons).

On our third day after leaving the last road, our maps tell us we are within the area where glass has been found. We stop to look. There are pieces of sandstone everywhere, and no plants in sight. It looks strikingly like the surface of Mars, and sand sifts underfoot. The first bits of glass we find are yellow-green jewels that have smooth surfaces sculpted by the incessant wind. We hold them up to the sun to see how the light refracts and scatters. This is probably what the Pharaohs did with their piece, and the Neolithic people before them.

Nine days of geologic exploration and discussion bore fruit. You get to know your colleagues well during long days driving and long nights in camp. Everyone figures out the strengths and weaknesses in one another’s ideas. It would be premature to claim that we solved the mystery, but new friendships and collaborations have emerged, and renewed interest in this scientific mystery has energized debate over this unique glass.

Applying high-performance computing to a scientific mystery

While most natural glasses are volcanic in origin, rare exceptions are tektites, formed by shock melting associated with hypervelocity impacts of comets or asteroids. The Libyan Desert Glass falls into neither of these categories and has baffled scientists since its 1932 discovery.

Sandia physicist Mark Boslough’s study of the 1994 collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter provided an opportunity to model a hypervelocity atmospheric impact. Along with observation of the actual event, the model provided insights that provided a likely scenario for the formation of the Libyan Desert Glass.

Using Sandia’s Red Storm supercomputer, Boslough and his team ran a three-dimensional simulation, using huge amounts of memory and processing power. The simulation supports the hypothesis that the glass was formed by radiative heating and ablation of sandstone and alluvium near the “ground zero” of a 100- megaton or larger explosion caused by the breakup of a comet or asteroid.

Expedition camp was set up in “corridor B” in the southern part of the Great Sand Sea, within the area of Libyan Desert Glass. The corridors — made up of relatively recent gravels and separated by linear dunes — have long provided travel routes in this remote area.

The shock-physics simulations show a 120-meter-diameter asteroid entering the atmosphere at a speed of 20 kilometers/second and breaking apart just before hitting the ground. The fireball generated by the explosion remains in contact with the Earth’s surface at temperatures exceeding the melting temperature of quartz for more than 20 seconds. The fireball and the air speed behind the blast wave (hundreds of meters per second during the 20 seconds) are consistent with melting and rapid quenching to form the Libyan Desert Glass.

Although the risk to humans for such an impact is remote, it is not negligible, Boslough notes. The precise probability of such an event and its consequences are difficult to calculate, but research on large aerial bursts is forcing risk assessment to recognize and account for these large natural processes. Expedition camp was set up in “corridor B” in the southern part of the Great Sand Sea, within the area of Libyan Desert Glass. The corridors — made up of relatively recent gravels and separated by linear dunes — have long provided travel routes in this remote area.

By Mark Boslough

WORMCRAWL ISLAND

The Worm that Walks is imprisoned within an obelisk at the heart of Wormcrawl Island, a remote place not found on any nautical chart, forgotten by all but the wisest sages and most despicable cultists. This island is wild and deadly, filled with monsters of incalculable horror and might, infested with the worst sorts of creatures imaginable. The people who entombed Kyuss here chose wisely, for none but the most courageous (or foolish) would dare explore the haunted jungles, brave the swarms of biting vermin, or contend with the monstrous threats contaminating the place. Through the ages, many have settled here, including savage humans, forest giants, and others. No settlement has survived the perils of the island, instead succumbing to beasts of the jungle, madness inspired by the obelisk, or violence committed against one another. Ruins filled with bones and rot testify to the carnage of the inhabitants’ deaths.

KEY FEATURES

To an outsider, the island is like any other tropical paradise, with high, mist-shrouded peaks and lush jungles buzzing with life. The forest canopy is home to several varieties of monkeys, birds whose plumage runs the spectrum, all sorts of crawling insects, and, of course, worms. Beneath its breathtaking exterior lies rot, decay, and pulsing evil. Wormcrawl Island is about four miles in diameter. Two mountains dominate the terrain. The eastern mountain is older and covered by dense jungle, and the western peak is jagged, bare, and topped with a smoking crater. Runoff from the mountains drains down to the interior and gathers in a large freshwater lake. The lake feeds a river that cuts a path to the ocean. Gathering on the shores of the river is dense foliage consisting of thorny bushes, tall grasses, and odd flowers. The most notable feature of the island is at its center, where the Worm that Walks languishes in the prison of its obelisk. All around the 100-foot-tall spire is blood rock, stone infused with the blood of countless sacrifices. Spewing up from this stone are pools of slime infused with Kyuss’s pestilence. The islet rises in the center of a sea of hot tar. Great bubbles rise from its depths to burst and release poisonous fumes that waft across the shores and fill the air with toxins.

DEFENSES

The island is home to numerous creatures—undead and aberrations mostly—but there are all sorts of vermin, magical beasts, and other predators as well. Although these threats are many and varied, characters of a level likely to be exploring this place should be more than a match for such creatures.

ENCOUNTER AREAS

The encounter map depicts one possible approach, placing the obelisk in the center of the island. If the adventurer travel from a different direction, change the compass to a direction serving your needs or sketch out the rest of the island. The following encounter areas are but a sample of those that could take place here.

A. Gruesome Greeting

Skulls mounted on stained poles along the island’s shores serve as warnings to drive off unwanted visitors. The skulls are all humanoid, and a check reveals small holes riddling each.

B. The River

The river is not deep enough for a seafaring vessel to navigate; characters equipped with rowboats can move upstream without a problem. The river is 100 feet wide on average. It is home to giant crocodiles, schools of flesh-eating fish, and a variety of water snakes. Swarms of biting insects carry filth fever, and each hour of travel adventurers must succeed on Fortitude saves or contract the disease.

C. The Lake

Waterfalls spilling down from the mountain create a beautiful spectacle for those coming upon this place, masking the danger lurking beneath its waters. Five hideous leechwalkers rise up and attack any who come too close.

D. Caves

A few caves and fissures pierce the slope of the volcano. Venting out from these gaps are plumes of poisonous gas. Characters flying over the island or climbing the volcano must make a Fortitude save against the poisonous air each minute they remain in the area. Each cave descends 1d4×100 feet into the volcano. In their depths, at least a dozen blessed spawn of Kyuss work to breach the walls and flood the tunnels and the island with lava to destroy the obelisk and free their master.

E. Volcano

A volcano towers over the island, rising above the lower slopes at a sharp climb up to 2,000 feet above sea level at the lip of the caldera. At the top, the ground gives way to a 500-foot-deep pit a thousand feet across. At the bottom is a churning soup of lava, spewing clouds of poisonous gas and the occasional spray of flaming rock into the air. Characters lingering here are subject to the same In addition, there’s a 20% chance each minute that something belches forth from the flaming pit, striking a random character. The creature struck must succeed on a Reflex save or take bludgeoning damage and fire damage.

F. The Unquiet Jungle

The jungle that covers much of the land west of the volcano is crawling with fierce insects and contaminated by parasites and diseases delivered by clouds of thirsty mosquitoes. Each hour the characters travel through the jungles exposes them to slimy doom.

G. Shattered Idol

Rising up like a crone’s finger from the western mountain are the remains of a shattered idol. Little is left to testify to its original form, though it’s clear the figure wore robes. Rubble litters the ground around the idol, and 50 feet down the slope lies the head, which is carved to look like a mass of worms.

H. Sacred Pool

This pool served as a sacred meeting place. It is now black and corrupt, with a skin of green slime coating its surface. The water feeding the pool spills into the murk without disturbing the surface. The grass and underbrush all around is brown and slippery with rot. A successful Search check of the area turns up a few scraps of cloth, a shattered symbol of Obad-Hai, and a scattering of maggot-infested flesh.

I. Polluted Lake

The marsh is a mess of mud, pools of brown water, and dead reeds. In its center is a still, black pool of stinking water. Just beneath the surface are the rotting remains of the villagers who lived here. The salts of the water preserve their bodies, keeping them ready for animation. As long as no one drinks the water, the pool and its contents are harmless. Consuming or touching the water exposes the characters to the tiny green worms crawling through the muck. The worms function as those bestowed by the blessed spawn of Kyuss’s bestow worm ability .

J. Tar Pit

The islet that surrounds the obelisk is encircled by a sea of tar.

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THE ROMAN EMPIRE DOES NOT FALL

Author’s Excuses and clarifications

First of all I know there are a few jumps in this timeline, especially in the later half. I know that the Romans had no practical way of finding Iceland (Atlantis is Iceland). But the fact is that from the north coast of Scotland there isn't that long a way to Iceland. Also the Vikings found the country by similar accidents so at least I think this is perfectly plausible.

Although it would appear that way this timeline is not ”let the Roman Empire continue so Flavian Aetius can take over” in fact when I began this time line I had almost no idea who this guy was. It wasn't until I was knee deep in the civil war that I realized that I needed a hero to get things right. The Roman Protectorates during that era were mostly Roman in name only as several new tribes settled in those provinces regardless whether or not Flavius thought the lands were under his control.

Also regarding the minor industrial revolution. I'm not talking about full blown steam engines. It’s more of a more efficient way to make and build things. The heavy plow is a good example of a tool that revolutionizes the world without making machines. Imagine the Romans knowing the basis for steam engines but not having the metallurgy for it.

Alternate History Wiki

What is Alternative History?

Simply put, alternate history is the exercise of looking at the past and asking “what if”? What if some major historical event had gone differently? How might the world have been changed immediately, and in the long term? Popular “what if” questions include “what if the Nazis had won WW2?” and “what if the South had won the US Civil War?”

To be more precise, alternate history generally exists as works of fiction, either in narrative (story) format or in the form of an essay or other non-narrative work, which have been created at least in part to showcase an imagined world where a change at some point in history led to events that could have happened, but did not happen in the actual past. A work of alternate history may focus on a point in the past, showing a departure from real history occurring, or it may focus on an altered world that resulted from the consequences of a departure long past.

In the vast majority of alternate history scenarios the departure from real history occurred within recorded history, but in some cases it may have been an event in prehistory, even a geological difference. The key point is that alternate histories deal with imagined or hypothetical worlds whose history is the same as our history up to some point, and then changes significantly.

Alternate history is sometimes abbreviated “AH” for short. According to some people “Alternative History” is more grammatically correct, but “Alternate History” is now well established as the common usage. Alternate history scenarios are sometimes colloquially referred to as “what-ifs”, or WIs for short. Other less common names include “counterfactual history” (used mainly by historians), “allohistory”, and “uchronia/uchronie” (used mainly in the French language).

Alternate history stories are usually considered a subgenre of science fiction, which is where you will usually find them in the book store, and there are also often alternate history “crossovers” with fantasy. It is entirely possible and in fact quite common, however, for alternate histories to contain no new science or technology, and no fantastic elements, merely depicting a world where history went differently. A great many alternate history novels and short stories have been written, and some non-narrative books. The existence of the genre goes back over a century, although it has only been in the last few decades that it has really become a significant subgenre of its own.

There is also a thriving community of alternate history fans on the web, with many amateur works of alternate history and active discussion forums. In other media, however, alternate history is relatively rare. It is found occasionally in television, film, comics, and computer games. This is probably both because developing an alternate history in such a way that it is interesting requires a level of background that comes across best with the detail of writing, and because alternate history requires a level of historical knowledge and interest that is not present in enough of the potential mass media audience to justify going to frequent effort to do it well.

THE EMERLAS

The northern tip of Canolbarth Forest is a wild and beautiful area known as the Emerlas. Shrouded in mystery and legend, the Emerlas is home to numerous creatures. Floating high above the Emerlas is the Shining Isle of Karelia, a faedorne. The Shining Isle is only visible at night and appears as a bright star in the heavens, known to the elves as the Star of Galannor.

Two thousand years ago, the red dragon Gorkalk flew out of the northern mountains and destroyed large tracts of the Emerlas. Seeking a champion to combat the dragon, Karelia’s attention lighted on Galannor Nightflame, an elfin hero of great renown, dwelling in Alfheim to the south. Karelia sent a raven as her messenger to Galannor Nightflame to lead him from Alfheim. Galannor made haste to the Emerlas and sought out Gorkalk’s lair in the Misty Hills. There, a terrible fight ensued and, in spite of his wounds, Galannor slew the dragon. Karelia was impressed with Galannor’s bravery. In her silver ship, she carried the wounded hero to the Shining Isle where he now lives beyond his span of years.

Since then the Emerlas has been peaceful and many creatures have made it their home. Recently, however, the red dragon Khordarg has moved into the lair of her great grandfather, Gorkalk. By employing threats and promises of wealth she has brought many humanoid bands under her control. Khordarg now plans to lay waste to the area, and she has already destroyed the dwarven stronghold of Granitgape and the human hamlet of Scrubton . At the start of the adventure, only Erystelle’s great uncle Druinder suspects Khordarg’s existence.

DORNERYLL

Erystelle’s home, Dorneryll is a large oak tree on the southern edge of the Emerlas. On brightly painted platforms high in the branches of Dorneryll, the elves of Erystelle’s family have made their homes. The area around the tree is laid out with pleasant flower, vegetable and herb gardens. To the east of the tree are a few outbuildings and stables for the family’s horses. The nearest elfin dwelling to Dorneryll is that of Druinder, the elfin smith to the north west. All other elves live to the south, deep in Canolbarth Forest. As a youngster, Erystelle was never allowed to wander far in the Emerlas and consequently the character’s knowledge of the area is sketchy. On reaching maturity, Erystelle headed south to Alfheim, the elf king’s court, and to lands beyond.

ERYSTELLE’S DESTINY HOMECOMING

After years of adventuring in distant lands, Erystelle has decided to return home. But the homecoming will be far from pleasant; most of Dorneryll’s inhabitants lie dead, slain by the red dragon Khordarg, while Dorneryll itself is in flames. This vicious attack cannot go unavenged ...

THE EMERLAS

A letter found by the burning trunk of Dorneryll will lead to the forge of Erystelle’s great uncle. Druinder will suggest that Erystelle attempts to recall Galannor Nightflame. Druinder thinks that the hermit of the north will know how this is to be done and gives directions to the hermit’s cave. Unfortunately, the hermit has gone into hiding and Erystelle will be unable to find him until much later in the quest. However, Fate has chosen Erystelle to save the Emerlas and to be as great a hero as Galannor Nightflame. After collecting numerous clues, Erystelle will discover the location and secret of the Shattered Pillars. From here, Erystelle will journey to the Shining Isle aboard the silver ship of Karelia the faedorne.

THE SHINING ISLE

Two tests face Erystelle on the Shining Isle. If the Silver Warrior is defeated and the Bridge of Change successfully negotiated, Erystelle will arrive at the Silver Glade. Here, Karelia the faedorne awaits with the magical items of Galannor - including the sentient sword, Scorbane.

THE MISTY HILLS

Journeying to Khordarg's lair. Erystelle will discover thousands of humanoids ready for an assault on Alfheim. To slay Khordarg, Erystelle has to sneak through a cave system to the dragon's lair and there face her in single combat.

Lamassu-colossi

Šedu and lamassu were the names of benevolent demons in Mesopotamia. In Assyrian palaces, some of the more important gates and doorways had monolithic sculpted jambs representing striding winged bulls or lions with a human face. While the image of the human-headed bull is common in the Assyrian iconography, the architectural application may derive from Anatolia, where carved jambs had been used by the Hittites (see BOGHAZKÖY, ALAÇA HÜYÜK). Their purpose in the words of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon was ‘to turn back an evil person, guard the steps and secure the path of the king who fashioned them’ (Ash.62f). The Achaemenians took over the theme of the winged guardians, interpreted in the more dynamic manner of their art (see Gate of Xerxes, PERSEPOLIS).

Edzard, D.O. (ed.), Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie VI (Berlin, New York 1980–83) 447


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CLASSIC MAYA WITCHES PART II

Adult males and females, juveniles, and infants are found in Actun Tunichil Muknal and Actun Uayazba Kab in west-central Belize. Major differences are context (surface or subsurface), evidence for trauma (present or absent), and grave goods (present or absent). Why were people treated differently at death at the two caves?

Were the dead of Tunichil Muknal all innocent victims? Or were some guilty, or at least perceived as being guilty (i.e., witch persecution)? Actun Uayazba Kab, located closer to a settlement (Cahal Witz Na), demonstrates more evidence for funerary rites and the creation of ancestors, who were kept relatively close to the living in a “lineage mountain.” Most individuals were buried beneath a plaster floor, along with offerings. In contrast, Actun Tunichil Muknal goes deeper into the mountain – that is, closer to the sacred – and is dangerous. The dead were not accorded traditional burial rites; they were perhaps killed and then placed on the surface – without offerings. These people were left exposed without any protection from the elements or the perilous underworld. These individuals could have been sacrificial victims; just as vessels were terminated or killed, so too were humans. If this were the case, who was chosen and why? Under what circumstances are human sacrifices necessary? It likely would take something drastic to result in the killing of a person who was a member of the community – not an every-day kind of problem. It also could be that individuals in both caves were left as offerings to the gods of the underworld, or Chac the rain god, or the maize god, especially in times of trouble or misfortune. For example, in colonial Yucatán, Bishop de Landa noted that the Maya would make pilgrimages during famine when they “were reduced to eating the bark of trees” (Tozzer, 1941:180) to the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá to pray and offer sacrifices for rain. Caves may have served a similar purpose, and in some instances infants, children, and some adults may have been selected for sacrifice because of their innocence and purity (e.g., Anda, and Hurtado et al. in this volume; Moyes and Gibbs, 2000).

Some of the adults in Tunichil Muknal, however, could have been selected because of a community-wide consensus that a particular person’s death would restore order – which might explain the evidence for violence and the haphazard placement of the remains. Perhaps they represent not just offerings, but punishment for the perceived threat they presented in life. This is witchcraft persecution: the punishment of someone to bring things back to normal. Their bodies were disposed of in the same place they were believed to have performed the malevolent ceremonies that brought ill fortune to the community. By killing or sacrificing someone, the Maya deactivated their evil power. And just like the Lacandon abandon deanimated pots in sacred caves because they are still dangerous, the same goes for malevolent persons – witches; the evil power with which they – and their bodies – are imbued demanded a similar fate.

By offering such individuals, who perhaps were thought to have acted against the gods, the living condemned their spirits to the malevolent gods of the underworld. Or, just as the hero twins of the Maya creation story killed the “evil” gods of the underworld by refusing to bring them back to life, the same could have been done to “witches” by not allowing their spirits to be released, not allowing them to travel into the “after-life,” thus ending their life all together. Perhaps sending such witches into caves was a way of sending them “back,” or giving them up to some of the potential evil dwellers residing in the underworld.

Or perhaps the Maya wanted to ensure that upon a witch’s death their spirit would go directly to the underworld – the place were souls were believed to have traveled upon death – and not continue wandering around the earth wreaking havoc.

In conclusion, there are thousands of caves in the southern Maya lowlands, and most, if not all, contain offerings. A majority of caves have human remains, some of which were enclosed in urns or subsurface burials, and some of which were not. The physical removal of the dead from the community and the living to places such as caves, also deemed as sacred places in the landscape, separated the individual from their social positions within the community – either emphasizing their importance, or removing them all together and negating their position. Why people were disposed of rather than buried has been the main focus of this paper – to explore the possibility that Classic Maya witches existed. The prevalence of witch persecution and witch killings cross-culturally, including throughout Mesoamerica, past and present, demands that we consider that not all sacrificial victims were chosen for their innocence.

CLASSIC MAYA WITCHES PART I

Prehispanic Maya funeral rites include the burying of the deceased in house or shrine floors or other architectural settings, typically with offerings (e.g., McAnany, 1995). Human remains showing “hasty disposal,” and/or consisting of disarticulated remains might comprise those “. . . who were perhaps regarded as nonpersons” (Geller, 2004:422), such as children, slaves – or, as we argue, witches. Geller (2004:301–308), in her work comparing burial patterns and skeletal remains from several sites and contexts in northwestern Belize, discusses partial remains as possibly indicating veneration, mutilation, or remembrance. She also notes the difficulty of distinguishing between them. Context, however, might provide useful clues (see Scott and Brady, 2005; Tiesler, and Medina and Sánchez in this volume; Moyes and Gibbs, 2000).

Human remains in nonfunerary or nonburial contexts, such as partial remains on or underneath architectural floors, might reflect the remains of sacrificial victims, while similarly placed remains on surfaces in caves might reflect the disposal of witches. It has largely been assumed that ritual violence only involves the sacrifice of innocent victims (see Tiesler in this volume). Witch killings, however, need to be considered as a possible explanation for some violent deaths, or even as a type of sacrifice – specifically of a noninnocent person, or one who is perceived as being malevolent by his or her peers. The challenge is to distinguish one from the other; in such cases context becomes just as critical as evidence of violence, especially since the latter occurs to both the innocent and “guilty.” Several types of violent deaths and associated physical evidence; taking this evidence into account, as well as the context of remains, is critical to distinguish sacrificial victims from possible killed witches. And it is important to keep in mind that not all forms of ritual violence leave telling evidence; “strangulation, disembowelment, or imprisonment in a cave leave little or no signatures” (Scott and Brady, 2005:276).

The majority of remains found in the caves listed are from surface contexts (55%, n = 17) rather than formal burials. The remaining contexts include surface and burials (10%, n = 3), urns or burials (26%, n = 8), and unknown contexts (10%, n = 3). It is necessary to note that not all of the caves listed in Table 3.2 have been excavated, and thus the actual number of burials is unknown. We are not suggesting that all surface remains represent sacrificial victims and/or witches; however, we are suggesting a re-evaluation of human remains recovered from surface contexts.

Unfortunately, in most cases the sex of the individuals is unknown or not recorded. Of the few surface remains identified, 15 are male and 16 are female; subadults were noted in 37 cases, as were 49 adults. For the sake of comparison, of the identified buried remains, there are 10 females, 12 males, 18 subadults, and 44 adults. Due to the limited information, it is not possible to present firm conclusions. However, the human remains found in caves on surfaces begs the question of why the Maya deposited people (or killed them) in such dangerous places as caves, whether they be ancestors, sacrificial victims, or witches. This behavior clearly is prevalent through space (Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize) and time (Preclassic through Postclassic periods). More research on remains in caves is needed to conduct a proper comparison with residential or architectural burials. Burials in structures typically represent ancestor veneration (McAnany, 1995) – what does this fact signify regarding the role of the deposition of the dead in caves?