On the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexican scientists have discovered a colossal complex of underground structures. Among other things, several dozen temples, a 100-meter stone road and a maze of flooded caves were found there. Most scientists are inclined to believe that this is the portal to the other world, sung in the ancient Mayan books.
Popol-Vuh
Unfortunately, the books themselves have not survived to this day. The Spanish invaders destroyed all cultural monuments of local peoples so thoroughly that, in fact, nothing remained except for the ancient ruins. But, fortunately, even among the conquistadors there were people, through whose efforts some works of Mayan art were saved. One of the few books about which we have at least a faint idea, "Popol-Vukh" - "The Book of the People." It was also destroyed, but a translation into Latin has survived, which, although very inaccurate, reveals some aspects of the ideas of the ancient people about the universe.
According to Mayan beliefs, it was not so easy for a deceased person to enter the afterlife. The soul of the deceased had to descend the steep steps into the underworld. There, serious trials awaited her, overcoming which, she came out to the intersection of four rivers - blood, white, yellow and black. The latter led to Xibalba - the afterlife. A special guide dog helped the soul on these journeys.
What is most surprising, the tunnel to the afterlife turned out to be not just a beautiful metaphor, but a very real man-made structure. There are quite a few such tunnels throughout Yucatan, and one of them was discovered by Mexican archaeologists.
Cenote
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The Yucatan Peninsula is generally a unique geological formation. At one time, 75 million years ago, it was there that a meteorite fell, from the consequences of a collision with the Earth, the dinosaurs became extinct. The peninsula itself rose out of the water, but did not lose contact with it. After all, it consists mainly of a thick layer of limestone, which is very sensitive to erosion. And tropical downpours for millions of years have eaten away the soil of the Yucatan so that it resembles a piece of cheese with holes. Huge underground caves filled with fresh water, turning into one another, are lost at incredible depth. They are still largely unexplored.
Sometimes the upper vaults of the caves collapsed, revealing these inexhaustible natural wells to the eyes of people. The Maya Indians, who preferred to settle in such places, called them cenote, but they used them not only as a source of fresh water. Bottomless wells, filled with water in places, and in places falling off abysses, in the opinion of the Indians, became the gates to the underworld.
As mentioned above, getting there was not so easy even for a dead person. The soul went through many trials for the right to find an afterlife, and not to remain a restless ghost wandering among the living. So the Mayan priests decided to help the dead. Majestic temples were built on the surface of the earth, and below - the most complex systems of labyrinths associated with cenote. The Maya could not master those of them that were filled with water. But on the other hand, dry caves were turned into real underground cities - with temples, statues, roads.
Multi-layered reality
It is difficult to say what was built in the beginning - ground structures or catacombs. Most likely, they played the same role. Only the temples on the surface were for the living, and the structures in the cenote were for the dead. It looks all the more strange that from the dungeons it was possible to get to the surface through winding secret passages. Why did the dead interrupt their journey and return to the living, scientists do not know. Most popular now is the theory of William Saturno, a Mayan culture expert at Boston University. He believes that the ancient inhabitants of these places believed in a reality "with many layers." “These portals between life and death, where one could lose the living and find the dead, had important social and religious significance for the Maya tribes,” he says. And the presence of alternative ties between the living and the dead,between the various aspects of the universe, it shows us well how complex the Maya's ideas about the universe were.
Be that as it may, after the capture of Yucatan by the conquistadors, the Maya, along with their entire culture, were destroyed. And for a long time, the few famous cenotes became only a source of water and a sewage system for the descendants of the ancient people who inhabited the peninsula.
Diving paradise
As interest in the culture of the indigenous peoples of America grew, and archaeologists began to make one discovery after another, they remembered, among other things, the cenote. True, mainly not for the sake of great discoveries (then, after all, no one knew what was hidden in the depths of the underground labyrinths), but thanks to diving. Since the 1980s, scuba diving in mysterious caves has become almost the main component of tourism in the Yucatan. More than 160 km of underground passages and about 80-90 cenotes were examined here. The most popular of these is Nohoch Nah Cheech, which was discovered by Mike Madden in 1987. In this one system of underground caverns, about 50 km of cave passages were surveyed and mapped. Many cenotes have become overgrown with hotels, piers and equipment rental points. Fortunately, the conditions there are almost ideal: warm (24 degrees) and very clean water,routes for divers of all levels and always an opportunity for new discoveries.
Mysterious road
And in the summer of this year, a group of Mexican archaeologists led by Guillermo de Anda discovered a chain of 14 caves with clear traces of human activity. At first, these were small buildings and household items, then a hundred-meter stone-paved road began, which led scientists to a strange-looking colonnade with steps going into the water. Some of the labyrinths are flooded, and in some places the road runs under the bottom of filled caves. How the Maya were able to erect such structures, for scientists so far remains a mystery.
Now Mexican archaeologists are exploring temples and pyramids, united by a system of labyrinths, near the city of Merida (the capital of the state of Yucatan). The oldest building here is 1900 years old. Most of the structures are dated from 250-900 AD. Consequently, underground labyrinths were created at about the same era. It is difficult to say how long they served the cult, but by the time the Spaniards took over the peninsula, the ancient rites were almost forgotten, and the majestic temples were mostly empty. Fighters against paganism plundered and destroyed what little that remained in them, but they simply did not know about the existence of labyrinths under the temples. Therefore, scientists found a lot of interesting artifacts there.
“There are rocks, huge columns and sculptures, all of which are located exclusively in caves,” says Guillermo de Anda. On several occasions, his group found rooms filled with pottery and human remains. The researchers were especially surprised by small stone pyramids, massive columns and sculptures of clergy performing rituals.
Most scientists are inclined to believe that human sacrifices were performed in caves. Then, prepared by the priests, the souls of the slain set off on their journey through the underworld of the dead.
Another discovery
Another group of archaeologists made a non-Mayan, but no less sensational discovery. In one of the deep-sea caves, they found human remains, including a well-preserved skeleton of a woman who lived 13,600 years ago. This overturns the ideas of scientists about the past of humanity. Until now, it was believed that the first people penetrated the territory of America from Asia along the Bering Strait, which was dry in that mement. And it happened about 10,000 years ago. And here they find more ancient remains, and very far from North America! Scientists are still wondering how the ancient people got to the Yucatan - they sailed on water or came over the land that went under water. But in any case, it subverts the theories hitherto.
Time will show what other surprises the Yucatan cenotes will bring to science. In any case, today a scanty part of the vast caves has been surveyed. So new discoveries await us!
S. Maslakov. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" No. 22 2008