8,000-Year-Old Skeleton Found in Underwater Caves Reveals Ancient Burial Ritual

Marine archaeologists have unearthed an 8,000-year-old skeleton within an underwater cave system situated on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, per the Associated Press.

Skeleton's Placement 'Suggests Funereal Deposit'

The macabre discovery was made by a team of cave-diving archaeologists who believe the skeleton’s placement is the result of a ritual burial and likely belongs to an individual who lived in pre-Mayan Mexico. This is only the eleventh such discovery made over the last 30 years in the region’s vast network of submerged caverns, which exist in sinkholes known as “cenotes.” Some of the previously discovered skeletons were found to be as many as 30,000 years old.

“It suggests that it was a funereal deposit where the body was placed intentionally, perhaps as part of a ritual practice," said Octavio del Río, of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). “Given its location and depth, it could only have arrived there when the cave was dry, at least 8,000 years ago.” 

According to Luis Alberto Marcos, INAH’s director of archaeological studies, this latest discovery will illuminate the lives of individuals who first inhabited the Yucatán Peninsula, including how they arrived at the location. Back then, the country’s topography was radically different and consisted of far-spanning dunes and cliffs. Now, the area is richly forested. In addition to the skeletons, researchers have also exhumed long-extinct megafauna from the caverns; as well as fossils belonging to ancient sloths, sabre-toothed cats, and bears. Each of those discoveries has helped scientists to piece together crucial details about the Ice Age.

Discoveries Shed Light on Little-Known Yucatán History

“The puzzle of Yucatan prehistory is becoming better understood,” Del Río promised. However, he quickly added: “There is a lot more study that has to be done in order to correctly interpret, [including] dating, some kind of photographic studies, and some collection” in order to determine the skeleton’s true age.

Find Comes as Country Pushes Conservancy

This most recent discovery comes as Mexico is renewing a push for conservancy, especially in the area near Tulum where the caves are located. The country is hoping to have the underground networks officially declared a protected natural and cultural heritage area before the end of this year.

“What we want is for them to change the route at this spot, because of the archaeological finds that have been made there, and their importance,” said Del Río. “They should take the train away from there and put it where they said they were going to build before, on the highway…an area that has already been affected, devastated.”