The Great Mayan Aquifer

cauifero-maya

The Yucatan Peninsula houses ancient archaeological treasures, and many have not been fully explored.

One of them is the Great Mayan Aquifer, a network of caverns and underground rivers that extends over thousands of kilometers in the states of Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Tabasco and Chiapas. One of its flooded caves, Sac Actún, is the largest in the world, at 379 km long.

In its depths, important evidence of ancient Mayan culture has been found, including extinct animals and human remains dating back millions of years. The Great Mayan Aquifer considered to be the largest submerged archaeological site in the world.

The exploration of this aquatic system requires very bulky equipment, which, according to specialists, has posed challenges and even dangers due to the narrowness of some of its channels and the fragility of its walls.

It is very important to protect sites like this, since, in addition to providing significant clues to our past, there are ecosystems and human populations that benefit from them.