For the ancient Maya caves were not only large spaces and places of animal localization; they were also a representation of the female womb. This was a place where life originated. These revered locations where a point of communication between two worlds since they connected the terrestrial plane with the Mayan underworld.
Descent into the caves was symbolic of the journey into the 9 levels of Xibalba, a dramatization as in various Mystery Schools that an initiate must endure to purify the soul. The age of the caverns is also astounding. Many of the Yucatan caverns were underwater millions of years ago and some were inhabited in Paleolithic times. By virtue of being sacred, they preserve archaeological traces of objects of ritual offering, and both human and animal remains with an antiquity of up to 14,000 years.
Have you ever wanted to walk the Ocean floors?
Walking into one of these caverns will make you feel like you have stepped back into time and into the very ancient lair of a revered people.
What you see here is fossilized animal remains and seashells stuck inside a cave wall. A cathedral of seashells.
Many of the entities in the caves are albino. We found this little albino centipede moving freely around the cave. There is no light in these caves, we wore headlamps and brought flashlights. The creatures here mostly have little to no color due to the lack of natural light.
This huge crystal stalactite broke off and ended up on the ground. The crystal does not look clear due to sludge build-up but if put in a bath of water crystals tend to clear. Some of the crystals are broken.
These broken pieces of pottery were found in an underground cave that we explored in the Yucatan. The cave has been left nearly untouched since the days of the ancient Maya. The location of this cave will remain undisclosed for the purpose of preservation and security reasons.
This cave has thousands of different pottery pieces scattered all over the ground which makes it almost impossible for anyone to walk without crushing an ancient piece of history. We had to be very careful while researching here.
Why is there so much broken pottery?
Anthropologists believe that the pottery was deliberately broken by the Maya. They have speculated that the Maya broke the pottery each year as a ritual of new beginnings and then afterward created new pottery for their New Year.
How did these structures form?
As the large volumes of water subside and only slow seepage continues, nature’s decorating process begins. Upon entering the unique cave atmosphere, the solution of calcium carbonate gives up some of its carbon dioxides and allows the precipitation of lime to form. This precipitation begins as a thin deposit ring of crystallized calcite. As this process is continued, stalactites form from the ceiling. As the drops fall to the floor, deposits build forming stalagmites. When a stalactite growing down from the ceiling meets a stalagmite growing from the floor, a column or pillar is formed.