The sacred cave of the Crystal Maiden of the ancient Mayan civilization

In Belize, near San Ignacio, there is a cult Mayan sacrifice site. This is the cave Aktun-Tunichil-Muknal or, as it is also called, the cave of the Crystal Maiden.

The ancient people believed that the caves that went deep underground were portals leading to the afterlife - a place where terrible gods live. Those gods should be appeased, making sacrifices, including human ones.

Traces of Mayan sacrifices can be found already at the very entrance to the cave of the Crystal Maiden. At first, these are ordinary shards, but as you go deeper, more ominous artifacts begin to come across.

The main hall is located 400 meters from the entrance, and there were immediately discovered 14 human skeletons, among which are the remains of the Crystal Maiden, in whose honor the cave is named.

It is believed that she was a 20-year-old girl whom the Mayan priest sacrificed over a thousand years ago. Her skeleton was completely covered with shiny carbon spar, which is why she was given the name of the Crystal Maiden. The age of others sacrificed is completely different: from one-year-old babies to 40-year-old adults.

This cave was discovered in 1992, and since then archaeologist Holly Moyes, who works at the University of California, has been working with her assistants to unravel its secrets and explore the unusual artifacts found here.

According to one version, made on the basis of studies of the ancient climate, an ongoing drought could play an important role in the fall of the great civilization. The Mayans believed that Chuck, the god of rain, also lived in the underworld, and just before the disappearance of this ancient tribe in the 9th century, the number of human sacrifices increased. According to Moyes, the Mayans were desperate, and in this cave it is felt physically. In an attempt to save their world from death, they did their best to appease the deity.