Ritual Exchange and the Fourth Obligation

Employing Mauss’s notion of the fourth obligation, giving to the gods, this article develops a
formulation of ritual exchange to examine the interactive nature of ritual practice. As a modality of
interaction, ritual exchange is contingent upon enduring normative beliefs, such as perceived
obligations to spiritual entities, and the social positions of ritual practitioners. Consequently, ritual
exchange evinces not only the material and immaterial nature of sacred beliefs but also the potential
flexibility and fungibility of social interaction. By considering a relatively under-utilized form of data
to study past ritual, archaeobotanical remains, we employ this perspective to explore the ancient
Maya practice of offering foods in several caves in western Belize. These data exhibit complex
configurations of commonality and variability, suggesting the potential flexibility and latent
fungibility of ritual exchange.