DECODING THE SECRETS OF AN ANCIENT MAYA CAVE

[Judi Lynn]

BY JED GOTTLIEB • AUG 06 2018

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When archaeologist Holley Moyes first poked around Belize’s Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, the massive amount of bat feces impressed her. Sure, the ancient Maya pots and tools dazzled Moyes. But during early trips into Actun Tunichil Muknal, it was the piles of poop that alerted her to the uniqueness of this ancient site.

“There were seven or eight centimeters of almost pure bat guano and almost no charcoal, and I thought, ‘Hey, what is this all about?’” says the University of California, Merced, professor. Given that pine torches would’ve left a charcoal carpet, “it was a dead giveaway that bats were coming in, but people weren’t.”

Like many Maya sites, though, Actun Tunichil Muknal — Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre, known as ATM to researchers — generated as many mysteries as it solved. Why did the Maya seal the cave for centurylong breaks and then reopen it? Why did they journey deeper and deeper into the earth over time? What was the purpose of the human sacrifices that litter its chambers?

ATM is one of hundreds of limestone caves in the jungles of western Belize. For decades, scientists swarmed the grand cities dotting the area, but in 1959, a guide discovered a cave in Chichén Itza in southern Mexico filled with Maya artifacts, according to The Ancient Maya of Mexico, edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell. Quickly, Maya studies expanded to include subterranean sites. But few compare to ATM, which was mapped in the mid-’90s by a team that included Moyes.

More:
https://www.ozy.com/flashback/decoding-the-secrets-of-an-ancient-maya-cave/88383