After the removal of each segment, a 3-D scanner was used in order to document the progress of the excavation. About 1,000 tons of earth in total were extracted from the tunnel. Inches of the ground were broken at a time, and the excavation of the site was done manually with the use of spades. He broke the entrance of the tunnel and installed ladders and a staircase in order to access the subterranean site. Cahokia Mounds: The Largest Ancient City in North Americaįinally, in 2009, Gómez was granted permission by the government to properly dig the tunnel.Olmec Civilization: Their Rise, Culture and Decline.Were the original builders of this site unaware of the dangers? Mercury is a highly toxic substance that is capable of causing significant damage to the human body when exposed for a longer duration of time. Modern roads and developments share more similarities with ancient urban centers than we often realize which is certainly the case with the sprawling Teotihuacan settlement, once located around 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Mexico City. The artifacts included boxes of rubber balls and carved shells, jaguar remains, and jade statues, in much higher quantities than were found elsewhere in the city.īut what surprised the archaeologists the most was the presence of huge quality of liquid mercury. Hidden Traces of a Massive Ancient City Are Still in Mexicos Landscape Today. Reconstruction of the Ciudadela, with the Temple of the Feathered Serpent middle top (Wolfgang Sauber / CC BY-SA 3.0 )Īs the Mexican archaeologists began work in the new tunnel, they discovered thousands of artifacts and three distinct underground chambers. The walls of the secret tunnel were infused carefully with fool’s gold or powdered pyrite in order to reflect the mercury, creating the effect of being surrounded by stars. The most remarkable discovery however, was a miniature mountainous landscape with pools of liquid mercury apparently depicting lakes. However, to everyone’s surprise, they instead unearthed several items such as crocodile teeth, jaguar sculptures, necklaces made of human teeth, jewel-eyed figures, and much more. When the tunnel was first discovered, the archaeologists expected to find a treasure chamber filled with gold. This last of the three is currently the most archaeologically interesting, and in 2003 two archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History found a secret tunnel leading under the massive structure. Three great pyramids link the Avenue: the pyramid of the Sun, the Moon, and the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl. The largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas for five hundred years, maybe 120,000 people lived in this great metropolis, built around the central famous Avenue of the Dead. Teotihuacan, the great city of the Mesoamericans in Mexico, has long fascinated archaeologists and researchers.
0 kommentar(er)
