Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM cave)

OVERVIEW

A river cave in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve, about 5 km long, whose dry upper chambers hold Late Classic Maya ceramics, stone tools and the skeletal remains of fourteen individuals, among them the 'Crystal Maiden' — a skeleton calcified into a sparkling crust, now thought to be a young male. Entry is by wading and swimming through the river passage with a licensed guide; cameras have been banned since a tourist damaged a skull in 2012.

HISTORY

The Maya regarded caves as entrances to Xibalba, the underworld, and used them for rain and fertility rites; the remains here date to the drought-stricken end of the Classic period, when such offerings intensified. The cave was surveyed and its chambers documented from the late 1980s and 1990s and opened to guided visits in the 2000s.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

There is no ghost story attached to the cave and the entry does not invent one. What is recorded is the belief of the people who used it — that this was a passage into the realm of the death gods, where sacrifices were made in the dark to end a drought. Guides relate that belief and the archaeology together; visitors describe the chambers as oppressive, which the setting explains without help.

VISITING

Licensed operators only; the Institute of Archaeology closes the cave when the river rises. Socks, no shoes, in the dry chambers; no cameras; not for anyone who cannot swim.