The Classic-period pictographs at Juliq’ Cave, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala: an interdisciplinary approach to cave art as organizing principle

Research at Juliq’ Cave, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, reveals that Classic-period Maya pictographs—comprising simple lines, handprints, and shapes—served as a spatial organizing framework for ritual movement within the cave. These pictographs, rather than depicting complex iconography, structured human presence and transitions through the alien Underworld landscape, linking it to the surface world via sacred processions. The study employs an interdisciplinary approach, prioritizing context over iconographic content to interpret the art's function as a means of ordering space and marking moments of ritual significance.

Woodfill, B. K. S., & Henderson, L. R. (2016). The Classic-period pictographs at Juliq’ Cave, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala: an interdisciplinary approach to cave art as organizing principle. Journal of Field Archaeology, 41(2), 177–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2016.1159898