Ancient Pygmy Tunnels in Mexico?

The Zapotec capital of Dhauya quch o Dauyacach, or the "Hill of the Sacred Stones," holds many fascinating items. To the untrained eye, it looks much like Mayan ruins, however, their are many differences.

Dhauya quch o Dauyacach is build on top of an artificially leveled ridge. It contains structures and carvings although the meanings of these are still under debate. The rise of the city is a mystery. How did a new group of people take control of a site that command three important valleys. There is no history of war over this site. Then the size and architecture of the site is distinctive. The most interesting feature of this place are the pygmy tunnels that run underneath of it. Finally, the demise of the city is not recorded.
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The carvings seem to represent both African and Caucasian men. A group of stones originally called "The Dancers" has now been reassigned as mutilated enemies. This would indicate some form or war and conquest, yet there is no records of war and violence. The tomb paintings are still colorful after centuries.
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"Hill of the Sacred Stones" is also known as Monte Alban near Oaxaca, Mexico. The first mention I could find was in 1859. Since then several major investigations have been done. The ruins are huge, the Main Plaza measures 300 meters by 200 meters.

Some of the tunnels are well know and explored, but some are enigmatic. The first was discovered in 1932, but wasn’t explored until 1933. It was narrow, only 20 inches high and 25 inches wide. Explorers had to inch through the narrow passage for 195 ft, finally coming to a tomb a skeleton, an incense burner, and funeral urns; there were also ornaments of jade, turquoise, and stone, and a few pearls. A blockage just beyond this find necessitated digging a 25 ft. shaft past the impasse.
alansmysteriousworld.wordpress.com... continues:
"As they wormed along the next stretch, they found even smaller passages, no more than a foot high, branching off the main tunnel. Leading down into one of these was a tiny flight of steps. At a distance of 320 feet from the main entrance, the archaeologists found another skeleton, and a few yards beyond this, at the edge of the northern terrace of the great plaza, the tunnel came to an end."

"The excavators’ initial guess that they had discovered a drainage system was abandoned. Also ruled out was the idea that the tunnels had been a network of emergency escape routes (or had been of any other service to humans of ordinary size), and official speculation about their purpose ceased. Since then, the pygmy tunnels of Monte Alban have remained one of the major mysteries of the unexplained."
archaeology.about.com...

So, who built the tiny tunnels and why?

My suspicion is that children were used during ceremonial rites to perform certain "theatrical" functions. Popping up wearing a costume they could quickly disappear down one of these tunnels or something similar. We know there were no pygmy races in central america so children is the only thing that makes any sense (to me anyway).
Love this stuff! Mayan, aztec, olmec, all were practically aliens compared to other cultures. So much we don't know.............

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Children could have used them, but who built them? Were children capable of such engineering feats?

reply to post by Asktheanimals

We know there were no pygmy races in central america [quote/]

How do we know? Maybe the pygmies had it first, then taller tribes decided they wanted it and built larger buildings on the site. Lots of cultures have little people "myths."

[edit on 1-7-2010 by shapeshiftress]

reply to post by shapeshiftress


Show me the central american pygmies then, not a folktale but some bones maybe?

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Pygmy Skeletons were found according to a 1876 issue of the Anthropological Institute Journal. It announced that an "ancient graveyard of vast proportions" was found in Cheatham County, Tenn. It was estimated the dead were 3 feet tall and had been buried in a sitting or standing position. The area was about 6 acres and there was an estimated 75 - 100 thousand buried there.

In 1837, near Coshocton, OH, several human skeletons measuring from 3 to 4 1/2 feet tall were found buried in tiny wooden coffins. In 1876, Coffee County, TN, a vast grave site was uncovered containing human skeletons about 3 feet tall.

A letter from a Cherokee Indian describes the Cherokee tradition of "Little People" or pygmies, who once lived in the southern Appalachians. Interestingly enough, the Cherokee language has a word for "pygmies" that resembles words in several European languages that mean "dwarfs" or "pygmies."

No, it’s not central America, but I’m getting closer…

reply to post by shapeshiftress


The pygmy cemetary in TN is facinating. I will have to do more research on it. Thanks for the info.

Err... I may have missed some details here,but weren't "skeletons" found in these tunnels?I would hazard to guess that whatever that skeleton was prior to becoming skeleton would be the answer you seek regards to who built the tunnells.
Just sayin'

reply to post by fotsyfots


There was a skeleton found in the larger tunnel. Then are the other tunnels that are only about 12" in diameter. When they blew smoke in them, the smoke exited in unexpected places. I don't why they thought some places were unexpected, but that is a very small diameter. What size craftsman made them?