Maya ritual cave 'untouched' for 1,000 years stuns archaeologists

[Judi Lynn]

Exploration of Balamku (Cave of the Jaguar God) reveals ancient religious practices—and may hold clues to the rise and fall of the Maya empire.

BY GENA STEFFENS

PUBLISHED MARCH 4, 2019

Archaeologists hunting for a sacred well beneath the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula have accidentally discovered a trove of more than 150 ritual objects—untouched for more than a thousand years—in a series of cave chambers that may hold clues to the rise and fall of the ancient Maya. The discovery of the cave system, known as Balamku or “Jaguar God,” was announced by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in a press conference held today in Mexico City.

After its initial discovery by farmers in 1966, Balamku was visited by archaeologist Víctor Segovia Pinto, who wrote up a report noting the presence of an extensive amount of archaeological material. But instead of excavating the site, Segovia then directed the farmers to seal up the entrance, and all records of the discovery of the cave seemed to vanish.

Balamku remained sealed for more than 50 years, until it was reopened in 2018 by National Geographic Explorer Guillermo de Anda and his team of investigators from the Great Maya Aquifer Project during their search for the water table beneath Chichén Itzá. Exploration of the system was funded in part by a grant from the National Geographic Society.

De Anda recalls pulling himself on his stomach through the tight tunnels of Balamku for hours before his headlamp illuminated something entirely unexpected: A cascade of offerings left by the ancient residents of Chichén Itzá, so perfectly preserved and untouched that stalagmites had formed around the incense burners, vases, decorated plates, and other objects in the cavern.

More:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/03/maya-ritual-balamku-cave-stuns-archaeologists/

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Amazing. And Vctor Segovia Pinto had the foresight to close up the site, perhaps to preserve...

the artifacts until they could be recovered and restored properly? An act of farsightedness that one didn't see back then sometimes with discovered archeological finds. Perhaps being so pristine and not contaminated, we'll learn more from this one site that many others combined. What a magnificent find.

[Judi Lynn]

3. The man had exceptional discipline in a situation which lesser people would have exploited. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

2. Lost Cave of 'Jaguar God' Rediscovered Below Mayan Ruins -- and It's Full of Treasure

By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | March 5, 2019 02:59pm ET

- click for image -

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzEwNC82MDYvb3JpZ2luYWwvYmFsYW1rdS1hcnRpZmFjdHMuanBn

An interior view of the artifacts found in the Balamku caverns beneath Chichén Itzá.
Credit: Karla Ortega/Proyecto Gran Acuífero Maya


Shimmying through a maze of dark tunnels below the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, archaeologists have rediscovered a long-sealed cave brimming with lost treasure.

According to an statement from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the cave is stockpiled with more than 150 artifacts, including incense burners, vases, and decorative plates adorned with the faces of ancient gods and other religious icons. The trove is believed to be just one of seven sacred chambers in a network of tunnels known as Balamku — "Jaguar God" — that sits below Chichén Itzá, a city that accommodated millions of people at its peak during the 13th century. The artifacts have likely been untouched by human hands for more than 1,000 years, according to the INAH.

Though the treasures were probably deliberately sealed off, the ritual cave, rediscovered in 2018 by archaeologists hunting for a sacred well below the city, has had at least one human visitor in the past millennium, National Geographic reported. The cave was initially discovered in 1966 by archaeologist Víctor Segovia Pinto, who wrote a report about the find, but never excavated before directing local farmers to seal the cavern's entrance for reasons that are still unknown. Segovia's records of the discovery went missing, leaving behind a mystery that would take five decades to solve. [30 of the World's Most Valuable Treasures That Are Still Missing]

- video at link -

Last year, archaeologists crawled for hours at a time through a claustrophobic network of pitch-black tunnels below the city to reach the sealed cave's entrance, lead investigator Guillermo de Anda, an archaeologist at the INAH, told National Geographic. Studying the trove of untouched artifacts within the cave will help researchers better understand the culture of Mayan cave rituals, de Anda said.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/64917-lost-mayan-treasure-cave-rediscovered.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. Mexico: Mayan Balamku Cave Could Re-Write Chichen Itza History

Published 5 March 2019 (3 hours 26 minutes ago)

. . .

Archeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico have "re-found" a cave that is "an invaluable treasure of information," and that could help to understand and re-write the history of Chichen Itza, one of the most important ceremonial centers for the Maya ancient civilization.

Guillermo de Anda, archeologist of the INAH and director of the program Gran Acuifero Maya (Great Mayan Aquifer, GAM) stated that the Balamku or "Cave of the Jaguar God" was found 54 years ago was discovered by local Campesinos and by children, who alerted archeologists working in the Chichen Itza archeology complex.

"This is an archeological complex that hasn't been touched or altered, which has a huge value for us," said de Anda to Aristegui Noticias. According to the director fo GAM, the cave's access was blocked after being "accidentally" found and they still don't know the reasons why the archeologists did that 54 years ago, but it is a good thing now. "Because information is there, and we could rewrite history in Chichen Itza."

The cave "was sealed for a long time, the information was stopped in time for more than a thousand years," the data extracted from the cave will allow knowing more information about the Maya, founders of Chichen Itza, and their relations with other ancestral cultures in the territories known today as Mexico.

More:
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Mexico-Mayan-Balamku-Cave-Could-Re-Write-Chichen-Itza-History-20190305-0029.html

[Judi Lynn]

5. 'The Place Is Extraordinary': Well-Preserved Artifacts Are Found Under Maya Ruins

In a cave under the ancient city of Chichén Itzá, Mexican archaeologists discovered a trove of ceramic artifacts that appear to be over 1,000 years old.



The archaeologist Guillermo de Anda next to pre-Columbian artifacts in a cave at the Maya ruins of Chichén Itzá.CreditCreditKarla Ortega/Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology, via Associated Press

Karen Zraick
By Karen Zraick
March 6, 2019


Archaeologists announced this week that they had discovered an extraordinary trove of well-preserved Maya artifacts under the ancient city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

The artifacts were found in a cave called Balamkú, less than two miles from the famed pyramid known as the Temple of Kukulcan, or The Castle, which sits in the center of the site.

Guillermo de Anda, an investigator with the National Institute of Anthropology and History, said in a statement on Monday that the remarkable discovery could help researchers rewrite the history of Chichén Itzá, which flourished from roughly A.D. 750 to 1200.

The city was built on top of a network of waterways, including sinkholes called cenotes, which the ancient Maya believed were sacred places that provided a portal to the underworld. Its name is sometimes translated as “the mouth of the well of the Itza,” the name of the main ethnic group in the area at the time.

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/science/chichen-itza-mexico-mayan.html