Lost cave of 'Jaguar God' rediscovered below Mayan Ruins — and it's full of treasure

FoxNews.com ^ | Mar 8, 2019 | Brandon Specktor Senior Writer | LiveScience

[ETL]

Shimmying through a maze of dark tunnels below the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, archaeologists have rediscovered a long-sealed cave brimming with lost treasure.

According to an statement from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the cave is stockpiled with more than 150 artifacts, including incense burners, vases, and decorative plates adorned with the faces of ancient gods and other religious icons.

The trove is believed to be just one of seven sacred chambers in a network of tunnels known as Balamku — "Jaguar God" — that sits below Chichén Itzá, a city that accommodated millions of people at its peak during the 13th century.

The artifacts have likely been untouched by human hands for more than 1,000 years..."

Though the treasures were probably deliberately sealed off, the ritual cave, rediscovered in 2018 by archaeologists hunting for a sacred well below the city, has had at least one human visitor in the past millennium, National Geographic reported.

The cave was initially discovered in 1966 by archaeologist Víctor Segovia Pinto, who wrote a report about the find, but never excavated before directing local farmers to seal the cavern's entrance for reasons that are still unknown.

Segovia's records of the discovery went missing, leaving behind a mystery that would take five decades to solve. [30 of the World's Most Valuable Treasures That Are Still Missing]

Last year, archaeologists crawled for hours at a time through a claustrophobic network of pitch-black tunnels below the city to reach the sealed cave's entrance, lead investigator Guillermo de Anda, an archaeologist at the INAH, told National Geographic.

Studying the trove of untouched artifacts within the cave will help researchers better understand the culture of Mayan cave rituals ..."

[JimRed]

Prettiest car...ever. Impractical as hell, needs a full-time Brit mechanic on call, but SO pretty!

[VietVet876]

One of my father’s friends let me use his 1961 XKE on my two week boot camp leave in late February of 1968. The car had about 40,000 miles on it and was a bit tatty with lots of stitching pulled out on the black leather bucket seats. The gunmetal gray paint was chipped in spots. But the damn car started right up with a push on the starter button after you flipped the switch for the fuel pump and let her tick six or seven seconds. I picked it up in Norristown (west of Philly) and headed west to our farm via the back roads. I got it up to a hundred in third gear around 6,500 and grabbed fourth but the car would accelerate no more. My girlfriend’s older brother who knew his limey cars said that it needed a new clutch and it would cost about four hundred bucks. That was big money in 1968. My father’s friend would have sold the car to me for $2,000. I’ve never ridden or driven anything that had the sympatico sound and vibrations that car had. Pure mechanical p*ssy.

[Chode]

well, a Jaguar should feel right at home in a pitch black cave with Lucas being the Prince of Darkness and all...