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28AMCS Bulletin 12 — Chapter 3but of well-known myths and legends like those ofNicte-Ha or Xtacumbilxunan (see Trujillo deEchanove 1959). Early accounts by explorers to theregion, such as John Lloyd Stephens and FrederickCatherwood (Stephens 1843), were characterized byawe and fascination of these watery chasms. However, itwas not until further into the nineteenth century thatmore scholarly attention began to take shape. (See figure3.1 for a map of many of the reported cave sites inYucatán).In 1895, Henry C. Mercer followed the Corwithexpedition to the hills of Yucatán in hopes of discoveringevidence of Paleolithic occupation hidden withinthe region’s caves. Though fruitless in fulfilling hisintended goal, Mercer’s accomplishment was impressiveeven by standards of modern field archaeology.He explored twenty-nine caves (thirteen of these wereexcavated), which displayed abundant evidence ofancient Maya ritual activity. In his book (1896), hedescribes the water-bearing caves he visited, includingthe Gruta de Chac, as well as the numeroushaltunes, which were ubiquitous in those caves thatdid not reach the water table.Prior to Mercer’s trip to Yucatán, Edward H.Thompson investigated Loltún cave, and he reportedon his work in 1897. Thompson provides detailed descriptionsand illustrations of what is arguably one ofthe most spectacular caverns in the northern MayaLowlands. Like most of the caves in Mercer’s survey,Loltún cannot be described as a cenote. However,among the numerous other features and artifacts werehaltunes, which were also noted by Mercer during histrip to the cave (1896:98–125). More extensive investigationsat Loltún were not carried out until 1977,when the remains of extinct fauna were recoveredalong with later Maya artifacts (Velázquez Valadez1980, 1981; see also Millet et al. 1978). The muchtouted, but nevertheless important early human presencein the cave was also supported by a later study(González Licón 1986).Perhaps influenced by a Western predispositionto imagine the most ancient settlers of a region to becave dwellers, some archaeologists have erroneouslyinterpreted various features in Loltún (e.g. hearths) asevidence of habitation. I would argue that this has beencompounded by the fact that Loltún is not a cenote.Cenotes, regardless of their myriad natural forms, arealready well established in the Yucatecan consciousnessas geomorphologic receptacles of water, whoseprimary function has been ascribed by the people livingamong them since the peninsula was first settled.If not drinking water, what then was the attraction toLoltún? So essential were cave pools to the viabilityof life in areas such as the Puuc, that the strong presenceof humans in a dry cave like Loltún could onlybe fully explained if quotidian habitation is considered.Indeed, there is a tremendous wealth of referencesto, and studies of, cenotes and cave pools in Yucatánand Campeche, and a few bear mentioning here. Forthe purpose of this discussion on cave water, I willseparate watery caves into two broad but meaningfulcategories. The first includes those cenotes in whichthe water’s edge is remote and located deep within acave, and the second includes those cenotes in whichthe water’s edge is easily reached either directly fromthe surface or relatively near the surface. Ethnographicand ethnohistorical data, which suggest that these categoriesare rooted in emic notions of cave water, arediscussed in the final chapter of the dissertation. Theaccessibility of cave water in Yucatán and Campecheis often a product of elevation (i.e. distance to the watertable). In areas with the greatest distance to the watertable, cave pools were sometimes used as a last resortin the struggle for potable water. In lower elevationareas, communities developed around more accessiblecenotes, which were relied upon as the primary sourcesof water. The purpose of developing these distinctionshere is that neither is the case in the Yalahau region.We will first look towards the Puuc region, whereCatherwood’s memorable sketch of the cave atBolonchen (Xtacumbilxunan) has shaped our conceptionof cave use in this upland zone (Stephens 1843,II:plate XVIII). In the highest reaches of these lowkarst hills, the water table is more often reachedthrough a series of deep vertical shafts and tunnels,rather than through open cenotes. Xtacumbilxunan isone such example (see also Zapata et al. 1990). Anotheris the Gruta de Chac, which was explored byStephens (1843, II:16–18) and later investigated byMercer (1896:91–93) and Andrews IV (1965).Stephens asked the residents of a community near therancho of Chack why they would live in an area wherewater was so difficult to obtain, and he remarks that“…this idea seemed never to have occurred to them;they said their fathers had lived there before them,and the land around was good for milpas” (1843, II:4).Stephens (1843, II:18) notes that although the moderncommunities near the Gruta de Chac may in factadequately subsist on the water so arduously procuredfrom the cave, such a source would not have been sufficientto support large ancient centers in the region.Quite different from the Puuc region, both interms of form and function, are the more open cenotesof lowland Yucatán. These prototypical portalsto the water table functioned as sustaining centers ofcommunities. Indeed, Morley (1947:12) points out the