Scholar Finds Mayans' Buried Highway Through Hell

[n2doc]

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 9, 2008
Filed at 12:32 p.m. ET

TZIBICHEN CENOTE, Mexico (AP) -- Legend says the afterlife for ancient Mayas was a terrifying obstacle course in which the dead had to traverse rivers of blood, and chambers full of sharp knives, bats and jaguars.

Now a Mexican archaeologist using long-forgotten testimony from the Spanish Inquisition says a series of caves he has explored may be the place where the Maya actually tried to depict this highway through hell.

The network of underground chambers, roads and temples beneath farmland and jungle on the Yucatan peninsula suggests the Maya fashioned them to mimic the journey to the underworld, or Xibalba, described in ancient mythological texts such as the Popol Vuh.

''It was the place of fear, the place of cold, the place of danger, of the abyss,'' said University of Yucatan archaeologist Guillermo de Anda.

Searching for the names of sacred sites mentioned by Indian heretics who were put on trial by Inquisition courts, De Anda discovered what appear to be stages of the legendary journey, recreated in a half-dozen caves south of the Yucatan state capital of Merida.

Archaeologists have long known that the Maya regarded caves as sacred and built structures in some.

But De Anda's team introduced ''an extremely important ingredient'' by using historical records to locate and connect a series of sacred caves, and link them with the concept of the Mayan road to the afterworld, said archaeologist Bruce Dahlin of Shepherd University, who has studied other Maya sites in the Yucatan.

more:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-LA-Mexico-Mayan-Afterworld.html

[mike_c]

1. ery cool story about one of my favorite places....

I love the Yucatan. Merida is such a beautiful city.

[Lerkfish]

2. which begat which?

I can see this physical road used as secular torture for enemies, and then becoming part of the religious lexicon for hell.

but hey, that's just me.

[Indenturedebtor]

3. I wondered the same thing

Or maybe at the end of this path they held their wedding ceremonies :P

Thank you thank you, you're too kind. I'll be here all week. *badaboom Psssst*

Serioulsy though I have got to go check this out some day.

[Chulanowa]

5. It's a little too complicated for that, I would say

Even the Republicans, with as much as they love both torture and squandering money, settle for saran wrap and a bucket of water.

However, as a sort of religious initiation ordeal, this is perfect.

[beam me up scottie]

4. It says: "the Maya actually tried to depict this highway through hell."

Meanwhile, christian conservatives are trying to do the same thing in our country...