Zoque archaeological sweatbaths. New data from western Chiapas

The archaeological researches carried out by the Rio La Venta Archaeological Project in the Selva El Ocote, Chiapas, led to the discovery and excavation of various sweatbaths in Zoque sites dated between the Late Classic and the Late Postclassic; foremost among them, a Late-Terminal Classic rectangular monumental sweatbath located in the site of El Higo, almost identical to those previously excavated in the sites of San Antonio, Chiapas, and Malpasito, Tabasco, both of them associated to ballcourts. The three Late Classic monumental sweatbaths, belong to the same typology ascribable to a period of great cultural flourishing of Zoquean groups in Chiapas and Tabasco. This suggests that a specific modality of ballgame and associated ritual practices helped foster sociopolitical cohesion in the Zoquean cultural sphere. The new data regarding the Postclassic sweatbaths, circular in shape and at times associated to circular platforms, constitutes a first contribution to increase our knowledge of a still poorly understood phase of pre-Hispanic Zoquean cultural history. In this article we summarize the archaeological data on Zoque sweatbaths in order to provide a meaningful context for the findings of the Rio La Venta Archaeological Project in the Selva El Ocote, systematically described herein for the first time.