A cave-diving archaeologist on Mexico’s Caribbean coast has discovered an ancient human skeleton in a tunnel network that was submerged 8,000 years ago at the conclusion of the last ice period.
The fractured head and partially-covered bones were discovered in a cave close to where the Mexican government intends to construct a high-speed tourist railway through the forest, according to archaeologist Octavio del Rio and fellow diver Peter Broger.
Del Rio, alluding to the time when the caverns were inundated by increasing sea levels, said that the skeleton must be older than 8,000 years due to the distance from the cave entrance and the difficulty of getting there without current diving equipment.
We don’t know whether the corpse was buried there or if that’s where this individual passed away, but that’s where it is, said Del Rio. He said that the skeleton was around half a kilometre (one third of a mile) within the cave system, roughly 8 metres (26 feet) submerged.
The sinkhole caverns known as “cenotes” on the nation’s Caribbean coast are where some of the earliest human remains in North America have been found, and scientists warn some of those caves are endangered by the Mexican government’s Maya Train tourist project.
Del Rio, who has previously collaborated on projects with the National Institute of Anthropology and History, claimed to have informed the organisation about the finding. When asked whether it planned to visit the location, the institution did not react right away.
Del Rio, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that Holocene Archaeology Project of the institute’s Quintana Roo state division informed him that the site was registered and will be researched.
He emphasised that the cave, whose location he withheld for fear that it may be plundered or disturbed, was close to where the government had cleared land for railway lines and might be damaged by the construction or blocked off by later development.
Del Rio noted that “dating, some sort of photographic studies, and some collecting” would be required to precisely identify how old the bone is, adding that “there is a lot more work that needs to be done in order to appropriately understand” the discovery.
Del Rio has been investigating the area for three decades, and in 2002 he took part in the finding and categorization of the almost entire skeleton of a young lady who perished around 13,000 years ago, known as The Woman of Naharon, whose bones were found nearby. It was found in a nearby network of caves in 2007.
Despite opposition from environmentalists, cave divers, and archaeologists, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is rushing to complete the Maya Train project in the final two years of his term.
They claim his rashness will leave little time to examine the prehistoric remains.
The massive, high-speed train project, according to activists, would split up the coastal rainforest and often pass over the delicate limestone caverns, which may take decades to explore since they are frequently flooded, twisted, and very small.
Cement pilings used to hold the weight above have already caused damage to caves along a portion of the shore.
The 1,500-kilometer (950-mile) Maya Train line connects beach resorts and historical attractions by making a rough circle around the Yucatan Peninsula.
The most contentious section runs through the jungle for more than 110 kilometres (68 miles) between the beaches of Cancun and Tulum.
Del Rio recommended abandoning the route through the forest and constructing the railway along the already-affected coastal roadway between Cancun and Tulum as originally intended.
When hotel owners objected to the highway plan, Lopez Obrador gave up after becoming concerned about the expense and traffic snarls.
Because of the significance of the archaeological discoveries that have been revealed there, Del Rio remarked, “What we want is for them to adjust the route at this place.”
“They need to remove the train from there and place it on the highway, where they previously said they would construct, in a region that has already been impacted and ravaged.”