BBC Natural World: Secrets of the Maya Underworld

I caught this on videosift
videosift.com...

Unlike other great civilisations such as the Romans and the Ancient Egyptians, the Mayan empire did not arise from the banks of a mighty river. Much of the Mayan world is in fact devoid of even the smallest river or lake. Then why did they populate Yucatan? The Maya believed that the freshwater pools, 'cenotes', dotted across the area were sacred portals to the underworld. They are indeed portals, but rather to an incredible underground labyrinthine systems of rivers. Only now being properly explored and understood, this secret world was created by nature in a unique chain of dramatic events... Underneath the jungle-clad Mayan temples of Yucatan lies a world even more mysterious, even more incredible than the Maya could have ever imagined... A whole food chain has been found in the cenotes deepest recesses -- over 20 species that have never seen the light of day. Some of the underground caverns are not totally full of water... incredibly, they are home to thousands of bats. -YT

I'm only a few minutes in but so far it's very interesting. When you think about it almost all civilizations are based around a river or the ocean.
The Maya were not. They had oasis in the jungle of the Yucatan.
I hope everyone enjoys this.

Looks interesting - can't watch it now at work, but added it to my watch later queue.

Thanks for sharing!

reply to post by grey580

nice intersteing vid a nice watch

Wow, thank you for the info. Wonder how BBC narrators know that Maya were not aware what lies in the caverns since Maya clearly knew that something is "fishy" about those water pits. Maybe Maya even knew that some of caverns are "bat"y and not fishy.
Just imagine some Maya hunter being lost in those for long time and coming back. What he would describe,if not underworld filled with wonders and demons. Then time and Chinese (Mayan) whispers turn it into full blown mythology with deities.

reply to post by ZeroKnowledge


I think they were very much aware of the caves.
In they video they talk about the stalagmites and stalactites in the caves.
Noting that at some time in the past the caves were not under water.

The cave systems were probably used alot by the maya.

Originally posted by grey580

I'm only a few minutes in but so far it's very interesting. When you think about it almost all civilizations are based around a river or the ocean. The Maya were not. They had oasis in the jungle of the Yucatan.

Fresh water; early civilizations and later one too set up next to supplies of water, rivers are excellent for that. The ones in the Yucatan are mainly underground due to the porous limestone.

A general rule of thumb is that people usually set up habitations within 3/4 of kilometer to fresh water.