Tuesday, March 5, 2019

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—The Associated Press reports that Guillermo de Anda of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and his colleagues visited Balamku, a narrow underground cave situated nearly two miles from Chichen Itza’s main pyramid of Kukulkan, and found more than 150 ancient Maya vessels containing bone fragments and burned offerings of food, seeds, jade, and shells. The ceramic items include braziers and incense burners that bear the image of Tlaloc, a rain god noted for his mustache and blinders. The researchers suggest the offerings may have been intended to ask Tlaloc for rain during unusual periods of drought in the Late Classic (A.D. 700–800) and the Terminal Classic (A.D. 800–1000) periods. The exploration of Balamku is part of the Great Maya Aquifer Project, which is investigating Chichen Itza’s underground water system and searching Balamku for a possible connection to a cenote cave believed to rest under Kukulkan. The team members plan to create 3-D maps of the cave while leaving the artifacts in place. To read about another discovery in a cave on the Yucatan Peninsula, go to “Naia—the 13,000-Year-Old Native American.”