Underworld Mayan buildings discovered in Mexico

Mexico City, August 18 : A team of archaeologists has claimed to have discovered a legendary route inside caves and sinkholes in Mexico that leads to several underground Mayan buildings.

According to Popol Vuh, the sacred Maya book, to enter the Maya underworld, Xibalba, a tortuous road had to be walked, and at the end, there was a lake with houses, where hard tests had to be accomplished.

Now, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY), have found the route that leads to the Mayan buildings.

Guillermo de Anda Alanis, director of El Culto al Cenote en el Centro de Yucatan (Cult to Cenote in Central Yucatan) initiative, revealed that finding these buildings has been a pleasant surprise, as they seem to corroborate what historical sources described. "Caves have been modified to house temples probably dedicated to Xibalba cult; considering they are located in hard to reach places, buildings are complex, some shafts reaching 30 or 40 meters long," he said.

Some of these spaces kept burials and offerings, such as earthenware and sculptures.

Dating ceramic tests reveal that they were offered between Pre Classic and Post Classic periods, most of them belonging to Late Classic (750-850 AD) age.

According to Alanis, in one cave a Sacbe, or ritual roadway has been discovered.

It is almost 100 meters long, well cemented and constructed as Chichen Itza one. It runs from East to West, and turns where a body of water is found, to end in front of a stalactite and stalagmite column that reminds a Ceiba tree, Maya symbolic ancestor.

"This is proof of an intentional trace, similar to Balakanche cave, at Chichen Itza," said Alanis.

ANI