

The new chamber may have been used for funeral rituals. Image Credit: PD - Gorgo

Archaeologists have discovered a tunnel and chamber hidden beneath the 2,000-year-old Pyramid of the Moon.

The ancient structure, which is situated in the Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan in Mexico, was used for human sacrifice as well as to conduct ceremonies in honor of the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan.The new tunnel and chamber were discovered during an electrical resistivity study of the structure by researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) who had been working together with the Institute of Geophysics at the National Autonomous University (UNAM).The tunnel's entrance was found back at the start of this month."The tunnel is towards the south of the Plaza de la Luna but it's probable that there is another entrance towards the eastern side," said Veronica Ortega, director of the Plaza de la Luna Conservation Project.Archaeologists anticipate that the new chamber could contain humans remains as well as green stone artefacts much like those found within other parts of the pyramid back in the 1980s."What's found inside could help to unravel the relationships that this ancient metropolis had with other regions of Mesoamerica," said Ortega.