Beneath a centuries-old church, archaeologists have discovered the ancient tunnels believed to be the “entrance to the underworld”.
The Zapotec civilization, which was around between 700 BC and 1521 AD, walled up these tunnels, but archaeologists have now discovered its entrance beneath a church in Mexico.
The Church of San Pablo Apostol in Mitla was built by the Spanish back in the 16th century after the ancient Zapotec city was wiped out.
The church gained notoriety when a priest described it as “the back door of hell”, with mystery shrouding this site which was constructed on the remains of the old civilisation’s most sacred temple.
This priest suggested there were massive caverns which were believed to be the entrance to the Zapotec underworld – but until now, no excavations had been able to match his description.
Previous excavations proved unsuccessful which was mostly due to the tunnels being walled up.
Now, archaeologists were able to use non-invasive techniques to reveal a series of tunnels and chambers beneath the city.
Five different sets of ruins were further probed and included the church group, the adobe group, the south group, the arroyo group and the group of the columns.
By using ground penetrating radar which reached deep beneath the earth, these ancient tunnels were finally discovered.
“Some of the tunnels and chambers extend to a considerable depth, in excess of 15 metres,” said Marco Vigato, founder of the ARX Project, which is leading the search.
He added: “In the case of the south group, they’re up to 30 metres deep – this is as far as the instruments can penetrate.
“It is possible that the tunnels, particularly those under the church group, extend further to the north, east and south.”
The true extent of the tunnel network remains unknown with archaeologists adding how this underground system could be the resting place of the Zapotec kings.
Vigato added how the earliest evidence of crop domestication in the area of Mitla “dates back almost 10,000 years”.
He continued: “There is no indication at the moment as to the possible age of the tunnels under the church or the other groups of structures at Mitla.
“They may have been created by the Zapotecs, or they could be much older.
“This could determine the nature of the cavities identified under the site and whether they contain any artifacts of archaeological significance.”
Vigato added how the findings from the scans will be further looked at and will need to be finally confirmed with archaeological methods.
