The first settlers of the Yucatán Peninsula built bonfires 10,000 years ago in a cave now flooded with water, studies have confirmed. Charcoal samples from 14 prehistoric bonfires removed from the Ancestors Chamber of the Aktun Ha cenote, or natural sinkhole, in Tulum, Quintana Roo, in 2017 and 2018 were analyzed by scientists from the National Autonomous University (UNAM). They used a range of different methods including controlled heating experiments, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and carbon dating. The scientists determined that the bonfires were lit between 10,250 and 10,750 years ago. Corresponding to the early Holcene period - the current...
