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A wooden canoe skirt by human and animal skeletons near the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá may have been used as part of a ritual .
In 2021 , diver in Mexico ’s Yucatán Peninsula discovered the boat and bone deep inside an underwater cave located 15 foot ( 4.6 meters ) below the body of water ’s surface . In totality , archeologist find 38 emaciated clay , include a human metatarsal ( base off-white ) most likely from a woman , as well as bone from an armadillo , dog , turkey and eagle , according to astatementtranslated from Spanish .
Carbon analysis of the canoe determined that it was built during the 16th century.
The abundance of armadillo bones and the bearing of the human foot have led researchers to reason out that the canoe may have been used by theMayaduring a ritual and was intentionally placed inside the cave . This idea is based on the fact that armadillos are adept swimmers able of hold their breather underwater , using their claws to propel themselves forward . The researchers think that the armadillo remain could be an " allusion to the entry of the [ panoplied animal ] into the Hell , " fit in to the statement .
The Maya conceive that caves and cenotes ( sink ) wereportals into the underworldand used armadillos as an " avatar " for God L , a panther deity with a cape resembling the armored traffic pattern of an armadillo ’s shell .
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" There are know images in Mayan ceramics in which [ the armadillo ] appears as a ' stool of the god , ' with character that place their foundation on it,“Alexandra Biar , an archaeologist from the French National Center for Scientific Research ( CNRS ) , said in the command . " This would be immediately link to the archaeological evidence keep in the cenote , " with the armadillo serving as a reflexion of the deity .
The canoe itself also provides archaeologists with further evidence that it was used as part of a sacred ceremony , as it contained a " very gravid " prow and severe that would have been unmanageable to navigate in swift stream and was most probable never seaworthy .
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When the boat was first discovered during an digging in advance of a railroad project , archaeologists " tentatively go steady " it to between A.D. 830 and 950 , according toReuters .
However , new carbon analytic thinking shows that the wood of the vessel date to the sixteenth century , grant to the statement .
