Nice find op, this is a fascinating subject. I only wish I wasn't at work so I had more time to look at this. Very interesting indeed.
S & F

GummB

[edit on 7-7-2010 by GummB]

Wow, great find anon72!!

I haven't really got much to add tbh but I just wanted to give this thread a quick bump so more people see it.

Anyway S+F!

Awesome! S&F for the find

I know it has been said before, but there is so much we have not discovered on this planet yet about history, species, and so much more.

I wonder what gave them the idea to dive into the crater in the first place?

Good post, didnt Edgar Cayce say that one of the places that the hidden documents of atlantis are is in the Yucatan peninsula, now wouldnt that be awesome.

fascinating.
That's a braver person than me diving in to that gravel, that looks terrifying!!
How deep is it?

What more can be said?? This is truly awesome and is just the beginning. Amazingly, we still have so much more to learn in this very mysterious part of the world.

Kudos to those who keep the spirit of adventure and exploration alive.

My Grandpa was an avid National Geographic reader and did all of his "traveling" within its pages every month. He would be astonished at this new discovery if he was alive to see it.

Cheers!

Wow that must be really quite an exciting job. I would love to be part of such an expedition. Of course I have never done any diving but really should give it a try. There is so much not explained or understood by modern man. Although sometimes I believe we just don't want to look at the truth.

Noticed that the Project Leader Lisa Lucero is from the University of Illinois.

I attended the University of Illinois for 2 years, its a great school.

How come the other thread on this was removed nearly straight away?

Oh well i will repeat what i said then, while a cool National geographic film it has a very misleading title.

It's amazing to think that the Maya or whoever did all this dive work with no scuba gear, found these cavern systems leading off these cenotes, and then built temples and roads with just rocks and a fire to give extra light. Mind boggling, in my opinion. But then again, look at their grasp of astronomy and mathematics. Chalk one up for human ingenuity!

I'm really interested in the femur they found. I don't recall if they said whether or not it was human. A femur with a femoral head the size of a bowling ball indicates one very large animal or human. Great find OP!

Originally posted by Frakkerface
fascinating.
That's a braver person than me diving in to that gravel, that looks terrifying!!
How deep is it?

Trust me diving is anything but terrifying, once you are under for a bit the peacefulness and tranquility draws you in. Time and perception seem to slow and you enter a state of heightened awareness while by contrast having your physical perception, i.e. hearing, vision, touch, narrowed by the nature of the gear and environment. Many a time while diving I have thought that it would not be a bad thing to die while diving.

Originally posted by the owlbear
It's amazing to think that the Maya or whoever did all this dive work with no scuba gear, found these cavern systems leading off these cenotes, and then built temples and roads with just rocks and a fire to give extra light. Mind boggling, in my opinion. But then again, look at their grasp of astronomy and mathematics. Chalk one up for human ingenuity!

I'm pretty sure the video said the the caves that the scuba divers accessed were connected to other cave systems, meaning that the Maya probably accessed them from above-ground means. But it's still absolutely fascinating that they so extensively developed their culture underground.

edit to add - the femur they found was apparently fossilized. It generally takes about 10,000 years for that to happen to a bone, and there were several different species of large mammals roaming around N and S America at the time. I wouldn't get your hopes up of finding some giant human skeleton.

[edit on 7-7-2010 by Son of Will]