Mayan Canoe Found Inside Mexican Sinkhole Contains Human Metatarsal, Armadillo Bones [Report]

Human and animal remains were spotted inside a sinkhole. According to reports, they were used for Mayan rituals.

Human And Animal Remains For Mayan Rituals in Mexico

It has been discovered that a prehistoric watercraft discovered submerged beneath a Mexican sinkhole close to the abandoned Mayan city of Chichén Itzá was surrounded by human and animal bones, Newsweek reported.

The canoe was discovered in 2021 by archaeologists and divers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in a submerged cave about 15 feet below the current water level in the San Andrés cenote in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

According to Helena Barba Meinecke, head of the Yucatan Peninsula Office of the INAH Sub-directorate of Underwater Archeology (SAS), the canoe was surrounded by the skeletal remains of seven different species, including armadillos, turkeys, dogs, eagles, and humans. Meinecke spoke Wednesday at the 12th International Congress of Underwater Archeology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico's 12th International Congress of Mayanists.

The human bone was a metatarsal from an adult female's left foot. According to an announcement from INAH, the bones of armadillos and humans, in particular, I was suggested that the watercraft had been used in Mayan rites.

Scientists believe that the canoe was placed in the cavern before it was flooded due to ceremonial use because of the abundance of armadillo bones and the presence of a human metatarsal. The armadillo's ability to swim may have represented entering the underworld through the cenote sinkhole. It is also occasionally considered an avatar of the Mayan underworld deity known as God L.

The canoe's design, which had a relatively heavy prow and stern and limited maneuverability, may also indicate that it was utilized ritually.

The canoe was once thought to have been invented between 830 and 950 AD, BBC reported. The canoe's wood was carbon-14 dated, and the results showed that the canoe dates to the 16th century when the Spanish began colonizing. New dives are being planned to collect new samples of the wood and bone since archaeologists discovered microplastics in the cenote's water that they believe may have impacted the dating.

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What Are Mayan Rituals?

Many Westerners' perceptions of Maya culture are limited to gloomy stereotypes of an ancient Mesoamerican civilization that involve bloodletting, deformity, and sacrifice ceremonies.

However, this limited focus on ceremonial killing obscures much about the Maya and their gods. It is a gory gloss over a complicated, evolving theology. While there is no denying that the macabre had a place in this spirituality, it was only a minor aspect of a wider, more dynamic belief system that the Maya people still uphold today, per Discover Magazine.

According to historians, the Maya civilization was greatly affected by religion. Massive stone temples can be seen in Maya cities like Tikal and Chichen Itza, located in present-day Guatemala and Mexico. Their rulers were regarded as significant go-betweens to the gods, and ceremonies and observances honoring or praying to their deities were interspersed throughout the year.

Major and minor gods alike were many among the Maya. The gods Chaac, the rain deity; K'inich Ajaw, the Sun deity; and Ix Chel, the goddess of medicine and fertility, were prominent among these deities.

The Yucatec Maya considered the god of creation, Itzamna, the first priest. Itzamna also distributed the territories among the people and invented writing and books. Pauahtun, an elderly god, was frequently depicted as having four distinct aspects, each holding up a portion of the sky. In addition, several Maya deities, including the terrifying god of the underworld known as the Lord of the Night Sun, had the shape of jaguars.