Actun Tunichil Muknal
Actun Tunichil Muknal is a cave in western Belize on the Roaring Creek River, south of Teakettle Village.
The limestone cave was discovered in 1989 by Thomas Miller and has an extension of around five kilometers. The cave is known for the archaeological finds from the Mayan civilization , such as skeletons, ceramics and stoneware . In the main chamber, 1408 artifacts have been identified and cataloged, dating from the late pre-classical to the late classical period.
Since a remarkable number of finds - around 400 ceramic vessels - served as water containers, it has been concluded that the cave served ceremonies related to water and addressed to the rain god Chac . Increased activity is believed to have occurred between 800 and 1000 when the area was subject to a drought.
Human finds are less common. So far, remains of 14 skeletons have been found. These included seven adults and seven children (all under five years old). Unlike finds in nearby caves, these are not tombs, but sacrifices that should serve to appease the gods or to ask for rain.
Actun Tunichil Muknal was seen by the Maya as Xibalba ( entrance to the underworld ).
The cave has also been open to tourism since 1998 and can be visited with tour guides. Tours are offered starting from San Ignacio and Belmopan .
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- Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina: New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society , Springer, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-0-387-48870-7
- Holley Moyes: The use of GIS in the spatial analysis of an archaeological cave site , Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 64 (1): 9-16, 2002.
Web links
- Description of the cave ( Memento from February 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Archaeological Research (English)
Coordinates: 17 ° 6 '49.1 " N , 88 ° 51' 44.9" W.