What do a deep-set canoe and armadillo stiff have to do with the Hades ? Well , a recent discovery by archaeologists in Mexico ’s Yucatán Peninsula may tick off a site that theMayabelieved direct to the otherworldly realm .
In 2021 , a squad of underwater archeologist with the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History ( INAH ) found a submerge canoe in a cenote – a natural sinkhole – while bear out research ahead of plan construction work .
The canoe was surround by human and animal bones and was located around 4.6 meters ( 15 feet ) underwater . grant to astatementfrom INAH , the team come upon around 38 skeletal remains , which included human metatarsals ( ivory in the feet ) that probably belong to a woman , as well as the cadaver of dogs , turkeys , eagles , and , significantly , armadillo .
The front of these shelled mammalian ’ bone , in junction with the human remains , has result the archaeologists to feign that the canoe was probably used for ritualistic purpose and was probably invest in the cave before it flooded .
According to Maya feeling , glut and semi - awash caves and cenotes were thought to beportals to the infernal region . In add-on , armadillos were regarded as an embodiment to the Maya chthonic god , known asGod L , who was represented as a jaguar tire out a cape that mimic the armadillo ’s shell .
The archeologist trust that the armadillo ’s ability to float and obtain its intimation underwater could be an " allusion to the entry of [ the animal ] into the underworld . "
There are known images in Maya ceramics of armadillos seem as a “ commode of the gods ” , with deities localise their feet on them , Alexandra Biar , an archaeologist from the French National Center for Scientific Research ( CNRS ) , say in the statement . This , Biar added , would be linked directly to the archaeological evidence in the cenote , where the armadillos may have been witness as a manifestation of the divine .
For Biar and colleagues , the word structure of the canoe itself append to the idea that this was all part of a rite . They believe that the prow is too heavy and stern to have been used to voyage swift currents , which would have made it useless on the sea .
According toReuters , at the time of its find , the vas was “ tentatively dated ” between 830 - 950 CE , which was around the oddment of the Maya civilization ’s classical zenith . This was a point in history where Maya cities , like Chichén Itzá ( which was site near to where the canoe was found ) thrived . However , further carbon geological dating has shown that the deep-set sauceboat was likely built in the sixteenth century .
If this is right , then it would constitute a continuity of Maya ritual practices associated with bodies of water in cenotes ( and armadillos ) during the time of striking with the Spanish .
But these determination are offered with caution . consort to the archaeologists , microplastics were found in the test sample distribution , which may have affected the dating . As such , new dives are being plan to take extra samples of wood and osseous tissue from the subaqueous website .
