Secret passageway discovered under 1,000-year-old Mayan temple
The Kukulkan Pyramid, aka El Castillo, in Ancient Mayan City Chichen Itza. Yucatan, Mexico (Picture:..
A secret passageway has been discovered under a 1,000-year-old Mexican pyramid.
It’s believed the previously undiscovered access could reveal the geography of the sacred site, as well as shed light on new details of the Mayans ancient beliefs.
Spanish explorers discovered the ancient Mayan pyramid in the 1500s.
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The new discovery of the underground passage is believed to lead to a cenote or water-filled cave at the Temple of Kikulkan in Mexico’s Chichen Itza.
Experts believe this passageway will reveal more about the Mayan ‘snake god’.
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Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia
Reports suggest that the Mayans sacrificed people into cenotes – and this has been backed up by the discovery of human remains on past expeditions.
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The passage was revealed by the Great Mayan Aquifer Project, led by underwater archaeologist Guillermo de Anda.
The group used sophisticated imagine techniques, including ground penetrating lidar to force electromagnetics signals through the ancient structure.
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At present, they team have discovered the passage, although have not physically explored it yet as it’s currently blocked by a smaller burial chamber known as the Ossuary.
Dr de Anda told El Universal: ‘Through the Ossuary, we can enter the cave beneath the structure and there we found a blocked passageway, probably closed off by the ancient Mayans themselves.
‘We will enter again and this time we will try to open it to see if the passageway leads us to the entrance of the cenote beneath the pyramid.’
Exploration could prove perilous as researchers discovered a large sinkhole beneath the temple in 2015.
