After a significant downpour, an archaeologist investigating the site discovered a 3-foot-wide sinkhole, and things only got more intriguing from there.
What would happen if a tunnel was built to the “underworld”?
It rained heavily to start.
One day in the fall of 2003, a torrential downpour pounded the gorgeous and historic city of Teotihuacan.
The already enigmatic city unveiled one of her secrets when the water transformed the soil into mud and the mud into sludge.
The following morning, Sergio Gomez, one of the archaeologists working on the site, discovered a three-foot-wide sinkhole.
The tunnel under one of the temples was accessible through the sinkhole. One of the most notable buildings in the ancient city is traversed by the tunnel.
The Plumed Serpent’s Temple.
The 200-foot Pyramid of the Sun and the smaller Pyramid of the Moon are two other of the three gigantic monuments.
It is thought that the city was founded as early as 400 BCE, predating the arrival of the Aztecs.
The Avenue of the Dead runs down the centre of the city, which is oriented on a north-south axis.
The layout’s origin is unknown to archaeologists. Even the name of the city, “the land where men become gods,” is shrouded in mystery.
But there was still another secret.
The enormous center area next to the Pyramid of the Moon was being excavated by a team from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History when they came to an underground hollow space.
They assumed that the cavity was also man-made because they were aware that the Temple of the Plumed Serpent has a tunnel comparable to this one.
However, archaeologists cannot simply dig.
Archaeologists need first have a solid theory and permits in order to see what’s beneath the city, just like the encounter in the Temple of the Plumed Serpent.
Instead, to map the buildings beneath the city, the researchers employed a radar that can penetrate the ground.
They observed that the tunnel is lengthy, extending from the square’s center to the pyramid.
It is thought by archaeologists to be a representation of the underworld.
The discovery, according to archaeologist Verónica Ortega, who is in charge of the Plaza de la Luna conservation project, “confirms that Teotihuacans replicated the same pattern of tunnels associated with their major monuments, whose function had to be the mimicry of the underworld.”
The tunnels have not yet been entered, but they are estimated to be 10 meters below ground.
There is more to find.
They think there are artifacts beneath the square, but more investigation is required.
Ortega raised the possibility that the tunnel had only been utilized for ritual purposes, particularly for ceremonies marking agricultural cycles.
Given the human remains found there, it is well known that the Pyramid of the Moon was the location of human sacrifices.
In 1987, Teotihuacan received the UNESCO World Heritage designation.
In 1884, the city’s first excavation began.
However, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the city was first comprehensively mapped.
The origins of Teotihuacan’s inhabitants are poorly understood, and the aspects of the city’s layout are mostly speculative.
We might finally solve the mystery of the City of the Gods as further historical study sheds insight on the location.
Watch the video below to learn how researchers discovered Teotihuacan’s “underworld”!
