Another day , another undercover tunnel beneath another Mesoamerican tabernacle . We ’re not unimpressed – it ’s just that it seems to us that these ancient structure seemfairly capableofhidingalotof oracular passageways .
Now , as first report byEl Universal , the latest find involve Kukulcan Temple , an edifice that was progress by the pre - ColumbianMaya culture . It ’s already been have it off that plenty of underwater cavern exist beneath this 30 - metre - high ( 98 - foot ) monument , but a new passageway has been reveal , one that could lead to a subterranean sinkhole , also know as a “ cenote ” .
As is usually the case with these thing , the cenote was n’t initially excavated or explored now ; it was found using a type of XTC - electron beam - based imaging two class ago by a team at the National Autonomous University of Mexico ( UNAM ) . Now , a squad go by the Great Mayan Aquifer Project has detect the entrance to the cenote within the ossuary room , which is where the bones of the deceased were once placed .
Through the ossuary , the researchers made their style some length into a orphic burrow before come across a blocked entryway . It ’s probable that the blockage was stimulate by the Mayans themselves , and it ’s possible that clear it would reveal a path to the as - of - yet unobserved underwater aquatic reservoir .
The tabernacle itself is covered infeathered serpents , a tribute to Kukulcan , a Mayan snake god closely related to several god find in several other Mesoamerican spiritual systems . He ’s been associated with war , and his name is share with an individual who may have been a ruler or priest in the part around the 10th century .
This particular god does n’t seem particularly friendly . He ’s seen in carving overseeing human sacrifices , which appeared to be a central feature of a rage that sprung up in his name . Is this raw burrow related to this cult in some means ? It ’s likely , but we ca n’t say for trusted at this point .
At present , plenty about the site , and in particular what lies beneath it , remains a mystery . So , while the passage is being deal with , an international group of researchers are hoping to produce a 3D map of the labyrinth beneath the entireChichen Itzaarchaeological site , which itself dates back to the 7th one C .
El Castillo , as the Spanish pertain to it , is doubtless progress atop a rather spectacular landscape . leave the cenotes for a second , and look at that it ’s found on the same peninsula that wasground zerofor the final stage of the years of the dinosaur . It ’s a site of stunning archeology and geology , one that continues to scotch researchers to this day .
