Under the eerie red glow of the lanterns, we could see cracked pottery on the damp clay floor of the cave. Our guide shined a white light on the stalactites and stalagmites, illuminating the broken stone metates -tools used by the Maya to grind corn- and the large clay pots.
Then the beam of light caught the glow of a human skull half buried in the clay; his front teeth were chipped and the bone had crystallized into calcite long ago.
This was the main chamber of Actun Tunichil Muknal (known as the ATM cave) in the jungle of western Belize, and for the Mayans, this eerie and fascinating cavern was a sacred entrance to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld.
For more than 1,000 years, the 5 kilometer long underground cave system remained unexploited and undisturbed. Locals rediscovered the inlet in 1986, and shortly thereafter, hydrologist and speleologist Thomas Miller found skeletons inside.
In the decades that followed, the unusually pristine ATM cave became the subject of much study, offering scientists and intrepid travelers a glimpse into Maya religion and society between 700 and 900 BC.
theater for the gods
Thanks to investigations carried out in this and other places in Belize, archaeologists knew that the Maya entered the caves to somehow connect with their deities, but the details of those ceremonies and rituals -and their motives- remained a mystery. .
Then, in 2021, two of the leading archaeologists who had been involved in the ATM cave excavations since the 1990s presented a new methodology to unravel those mysteries.
In their article, University of California Professor Holley Moyes and Belizean archaeologist Jaime J Awe explained how they were able to construct an intricate picture of religious ceremonies by studying the spatial arrangement of skeletons and artifacts left behind.
They were able to learn where the Maya stood while the ceremonies were taking place, what mythical stories they enacted, what gods the Maya personified in rituals, and how the unfortunate were sacrificed.
There are no first-hand accounts of what went on in the Mayan ceremonies in the caves, but the new theory brings their religious ceremonies to life on a human level that, until now, was not understood.
Moyes and Awe state that the Maya staged elaborate theatrical and deadly performances of the Popol Vuh, the Maya creation myth, and that they did so as a way of inciting their gods to force a “rebirth” of the world in the period just before drought and political turmoil brought about the end of their civilization , known as the Mayan Collapse, in the 10th century.
Restricted access
“It is probably one of the most important archaeological caves in the world, due to its level of conservation and archaeological value. Mainly because it was not looted,” Moyes said.
“And it’s an adventure to get there: you cross the jungle, you cross the water, and you experience the path that the Mayans took to get there,” he added.
The entrance to the ATM cave, 8 meters high, is hidden behind a vine and thick foliage in the depths of the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve.
The trailhead is an hour’s drive from San Ignacio, a town near the Guatemalan border.
From there it’s a 45-minute hike through the jungle and a series of knee-deep river crossings. even up to the waist. The path ends here and the only way to enter the cave is by swimming.
“The Mayans made this journey with burning torches,” says Hector Bol, a guide from the local Mayan community who has been leading tours of the ATM cave for 18 years.
Our small group of five tourists turned on their flashlights and left the daylight behind as we followed, fording the river that wound its way through the limestone.
the caves are a key element of the Mayan worldview. Moyes explained to me that the caves were at the bottom of a three-tiered cosmos, with the terrestrial human world above and the gods in the sky.
“The Mayans started using the caves around 1200 BC, when they started to move into Belize,” he added.
When we reached the main chamber, Bol motioned for us to remove our shoes. “In the Mayan underworld, the sole is always lost,” he joked.
Using his torch as a pointer, he highlighted the clay pots balanced on ledges and the heavy stone metates that lay in calcified pools on the ground.
When its light made out the unmistakable silhouette of that crystallized skull, we all fell silent. So far almost 1,500 objects and fragments have been recorded, and 21 human skeletons.
damaged offerings
In the creation myth of the Popol Vuh, two divine figures known as the Hero Twins travel to the underworld to appease the Lords of Xibalba and challenge them to a ball game. The twins lose and are immediately euthanized.
Another group of Hero Twins follows them to avenge their father (one of the original Hero Twins), and they ultimately win.
Their avenged father is reborn as the Maize God, from which all human life is created, and the Hero Twins punish the Lords of Xibalba, who can thereafter only receive offerings that are damaged in any way.
Evidence from ATM Cave suggests that it is this myth that the Maya enacted in a desperate attempt to fight the Lords of Xibalba, just as the Hero Twins did.
“The Maya must have believed that the evil Lords of Xibalba somehow triumphed during droughts,” Moyes said, referring to the natural disaster that experts believe contributed to the downfall of civilization.
“The Lords of Xibalba are not allowed to have nice things, and almost everything we find in the cave it’s brokenwhich makes me think that they must be offerings to the deities of the underworld.”
Pray before the tragedy
Moyes also explained how all of the ATM cave artifacts have been dated to just before the Mayan collapse.
“We have very tight radiocarbon dates. We know that this occurred in a very short period of time,” he said:
“All the ceramics in the cave are dated between 700 and 900 (of the Christian era).” (The Mayans) are in full drought around the year 820. Around 850, the area is uninhabited, so they enter the cave at the height of the drought, just before it is abandoned.”
As our tour reached the center of the main chamber, Bol highlighted the small Three Stone Hearth, formed by the Maya from three speleothems (mineral deposits found in caves) as a clear reference to the three stone hearth of Popol. Vuh, in which the Maize God was reborn after being sacrificed.
“There are a number of artifacts, as well as human remains, clustered in the central 5m x 5m area of the main chamber surrounding the three stacked speleothems that suggest a literal re-enactment of the Popol Vuh story,” Moyes and Awe wrote in your research paper.
I saw one of these sets of human remains in a pool next to the home.
Moyes and Awe labeled this headless skeleton an “Imposter-God” in their paper and theorized that “the central location of (the skeleton) adjacent to the Three Stone Hearth feature suggests that the sacrifice was meant to invoke the Maize God.” and his journey through the aquatic underworld.
A few meters away, two other sacrificial victims met their end. Based on their position, Moyes and Awe believe that these two they should be playing the role of the first two Hero Twins.
Standing in the center of the chamber, I was able to imagine this deadly drama. However, Moyes made it clear that the Maya did not always perform these kinds of rituals.
“Among the Maya we barely see -almost no- human sacrifices until the late classic period (the 8th and 9th centuries AD). And I think they start doing it because they’re in the middle of a drought, and they’re trying to up the ante.”
In fact, Moyes believes that the Mayan world has similarities to ours.
“The story of what happens to the Mayan people is a real human story. It is a story that articulates what we are seeing now with climate change. After all, the Maya simply pray for rain. Here in California, we do the same. We have signs on the highway that literally say ‘Pray for rain’”.
After softly treading the haunted footsteps of the Mayans, we retrieve our shoes and follow Bol back through the underworld, and out into the blinding sunlight.
As Bol took my hand to help me climb the rocks that led to the jungle path, the same sentiment was echoed:
“Was the religious fervor which led the Mayans to these caves. But when things get desperate, and science fails us, we all start praying.”
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
