to this day people do not get drinking
water from that cenote it is generally
considered taboo it’s kind of off-limits
people don’t let their children play
near there and there’s a lot of beliefs
around this cenote having sort of evil
forces or malevolent forces associated
with it
cenotes are sinkholes then they’re
important because the main access to the
water that you get in the northern you
Katan is through these sinkholes they’re
also believed to be accesses to the Maya
underworld and the homes of God’s Maya
pond is it’s a large city it’s
incredibly dense for Maya history
there’s nothing like it in the classic
period it’s a walled city which is
unusual also the wall includes a number
of water bearing cenotes but what you
see at my upon is that the wall diverts
noticeably to the north around this
cenote excluding it and then it diverts
back out to include the next one up the
line so it struck researchers from the
1930s on is being incredibly unusual
that it seems intentionally excluded
there’s no other cenote at the site like
that well we have to rappel into the
cenote we actually lower ourselves down
wearing our wetsuits wearing a caving
helmet and our flippers which it’s a
pretty awkward look frankly to have and
it’s a little bit difficult to climb
down the drop from the entrance to the
water is something like three storeys we
lower our dive equipment down we put the
dive equipment on once we get into the
water the second chamber was was a real
surprise to us we weren’t looking to
find a connected cave system they’re not
usually that form that far away from the
coast and so what you have is a tunnel
just barely big enough for a person with
tanks to get through and then it opens
up into this huge second cavern you know
when you’re underwater you’re using
various hand signals because you’re
underwater and that was the day I had to
come up with a signal like wow
yes I just I wanted to scream out loud I
was so excited well the main thing that
seems to be there is a lot of human
remains muscle remains are concentrated
in that Southwest farthest end the flow
it turns out we put some things to float
in the water and they they drift in that
direction so if you had a body and it
was in there
they’ve been deposited it would normally
sort of drift to the far end and that’s
where we found the greatest
concentration that remains the section
with the number of skulls right up
against the wall long bones of various
sorts arms legs vertebra it’s my theory
at the moment that they were essentially
regular burials that people had had died
on the surface and that their bodies
were being interred there in the cenote
and this is really significant because
they’re clearly religiously powerful
space and I suspect that there may be
some social difference there may be
their higher status individuals it’s
hard to say it seems to me that this is
sort of a place of honor that this is
you know one of the more holy places in
the city is in these cenotes for the
years when I was diving in the open
water they used to tell us all the time
like never go into an overhead
environment anything that is you know
rock above your head if you don’t have a
clear line of sight to the surface
you’re just going to die but having
gotten the data that we did and seeing
what I’ve now seen I think it was one of
the most thrilling experiences of my
life
you
you
water from that cenote it is generally
considered taboo it’s kind of off-limits
people don’t let their children play
near there and there’s a lot of beliefs
around this cenote having sort of evil
forces or malevolent forces associated
with it
cenotes are sinkholes then they’re
important because the main access to the
water that you get in the northern you
Katan is through these sinkholes they’re
also believed to be accesses to the Maya
underworld and the homes of God’s Maya
pond is it’s a large city it’s
incredibly dense for Maya history
there’s nothing like it in the classic
period it’s a walled city which is
unusual also the wall includes a number
of water bearing cenotes but what you
see at my upon is that the wall diverts
noticeably to the north around this
cenote excluding it and then it diverts
back out to include the next one up the
line so it struck researchers from the
1930s on is being incredibly unusual
that it seems intentionally excluded
there’s no other cenote at the site like
that well we have to rappel into the
cenote we actually lower ourselves down
wearing our wetsuits wearing a caving
helmet and our flippers which it’s a
pretty awkward look frankly to have and
it’s a little bit difficult to climb
down the drop from the entrance to the
water is something like three storeys we
lower our dive equipment down we put the
dive equipment on once we get into the
water the second chamber was was a real
surprise to us we weren’t looking to
find a connected cave system they’re not
usually that form that far away from the
coast and so what you have is a tunnel
just barely big enough for a person with
tanks to get through and then it opens
up into this huge second cavern you know
when you’re underwater you’re using
various hand signals because you’re
underwater and that was the day I had to
come up with a signal like wow
yes I just I wanted to scream out loud I
was so excited well the main thing that
seems to be there is a lot of human
remains muscle remains are concentrated
in that Southwest farthest end the flow
it turns out we put some things to float
in the water and they they drift in that
direction so if you had a body and it
was in there
they’ve been deposited it would normally
sort of drift to the far end and that’s
where we found the greatest
concentration that remains the section
with the number of skulls right up
against the wall long bones of various
sorts arms legs vertebra it’s my theory
at the moment that they were essentially
regular burials that people had had died
on the surface and that their bodies
were being interred there in the cenote
and this is really significant because
they’re clearly religiously powerful
space and I suspect that there may be
some social difference there may be
their higher status individuals it’s
hard to say it seems to me that this is
sort of a place of honor that this is
you know one of the more holy places in
the city is in these cenotes for the
years when I was diving in the open
water they used to tell us all the time
like never go into an overhead
environment anything that is you know
rock above your head if you don’t have a
clear line of sight to the surface
you’re just going to die but having
gotten the data that we did and seeing
what I’ve now seen I think it was one of
the most thrilling experiences of my
life
you
you
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