A fantastic discovery from the world of the Maya.
A labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids in 14 caves—some underwater—have been uncovered on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula,
archaeologists announced recently.
The discovery has experts wondering whether Maya legend inspired the construction of the underground complex—or vice versa.
news.nationalgeographic.com...
Legend says the afterlife for ancient Mayas was a terrifying obstacle course in which the dead had to traverse rivers of blood, and chambers full
of sharp knives, bats and jaguars.
Now a Mexican archaeologist using long-forgotten testimony from the Spanish Inquisition says a series of caves he has explored may be the place where
the Maya actually tried to depict this highway through hell.
The network of underground chambers, roads and temples beneath farmland and jungle on the Yucatan peninsula suggests the Maya fashioned them to mimic
the journey to the underworld, or Xibalba, described in ancient mythological texts such as the Popol Vuh.
ap.google.com...
[edit on 20-11-2008 by jakyll]
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