Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave is one of the best places for exciting adventures and exciting experiences in Central America in Belize. This cave is located on the slopes of the Mahia Mountains in West Belize. The Belize limestone caves are particularly interesting because of their narrow, damp, dark roads. The people of the country believe that the formation of caves was a way between the world of the living and the world of the ancient Maya. This world is called Shibalaba’s dead. This place is literally a terrible place, but unlike other religious beliefs, it has not been a place for spirits. Belize’s Mayan inhabitants in these caves tried to calm the gods underground by holding various ceremonies.
The cave was discovered in 1989 and was released to the public in 1998. Dr. Jimmy Ayu was the first to find the cave. He also explored the cave during his research on caves in the western Belize region between 1993 and 2000. The cave is more than 5 kilometers deep, however, tourists are allowed to travel only 3.5 kilometers from the cave and are prevented from further advancing due to safety concerns.
More than 1,400 handmade objects have been found and listed in the cave. These included ceramic pitchers, water musk, tools and weapons dating back to 250 to 909 AD. The most recent of them is 1108 years ago. Today, the cave is one of the most fascinating and rich places for handmade objects. One of these special objects is the “Monkey Pots”. It is actually named after the image of the monkey on the periphery. Not bad to know that there are only 4 more pots of this particular design in Central America.
Evidence suggests that the cave was a sacred place for the Maya, and they performed their religious practices there, such as a sacrifice. The Maya believed that the gods in the underground were the ones who brought rain and fertilized the earth, and the caves were a way to reach the underworld, and the gods were to be worshiped there.
Untitled by ActonTonychilmocal Cave
The remains show that the Maya were torturing and imprisoning themselves. The stela chamber is one of the big places in Acton Cave, which consisted of two large chambers where the Maya came in individually, knife-throwing their bodies and offering their blood to the gods.
This cave is home to the famous Crystal Maiden. A young woman who was believed to have entered the cave and was melted by the water containing crystalline coating.
In Acton, 14 skeletons were discovered. The skeletons included 7 adults and 7 children, all younger than 5 years. They did not appear to be buried, but rather resembled victims, but the reason was that the Mayans sacrificed children and women for the sake of the gods, and that the sacrifice must be (zuhi) literally pure and without sacrifice.
Since 2003, when a tourist camera crashed into one of the skeletons, such equipment was banned from entering the cave, and people needed to wear only socks to keep the cave’s delicate and fragile environment safe from damage.
