Triadic Tutelary Deities of Ancient Maya Polities: The Case of Caracol in Context

Abstract This article considers the nature of divinity and the supernatural among the ancient Maya (ca. a.d. 200–900), not by examining the shared pantheon of this ancient civilization, but instead by investigating an alternate category of the supernatural, namely, triadic tutelary deities. One of the features of these entities is that these were tied to place, since these were specifically connected to particular capitals and polities. We will thus be looking at regional variation in belief systems, and the evidence that we have, as afforded by epigraphy, iconography, and archaeology. We describe the veneration of tutelary deities at several archaeological sites, focusing on those that explicitly designate a set of deities as ux luut k’uh or “three-in-a-set-deities.” Using this comparative data and introducing the evidence that we have for such tutelary deities at the archaeological site of Caracol, in what is now Belize, we present new interpretations of the epigraphic and archaeological record connected with these triadic tutelary deities and their cult complexes.