Earlier this year, the World’s longest underwater cave system was discovered in Tulum, Mexico. More recently, an archaeological mission to the site has revealed a stunning site frozen in time by the water and sediment.
WATCH: Archaeologists who have been exploring the world’s largest underwater cave in Mexico, present their findings pic.twitter.com/551WbtFPf5
— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 20, 2018
Researchers from the Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM) exploration and preservation group presented ancient relics recovered from the site, including fossils of a type of ancient elephant, giant sloths and a shrine to a Mayan god. It’s believed that desperate animals ventured into the caves in search of water at times of severe drought, some of which then became trapped.
“It’s very unlikely that there is another site in the world with these characteristics. There is an impressive amount of archaeological artifacts inside, and the level of preservation is also impressive,” Guillermo de Anda, an underwater archaeologist, told a press conference earlier this year.
Two networks of underwater caves, known as the Sac Actun and Dos Ojos, totalling 350km (217 miles) in length were discovered in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. They were found to intersect at a natural pit or sinkhole, known as a cenote, in a jungle area of the coastal town of Tulum. It is hoped that the remains found within these networks will help scientists develop a picture of the cave’s history, which they believe dates back more than 2.5 million years to the Pleistocene era.
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