'Gateway to Hell' Revealed Beneath Famous Zapotec Ruins

(NLDO) - Ground-penetrating radar has revealed an underground labyrinth beneath the Zapotec site of Mitla.

According to Heritage Daily, an archaeological project led by Mexico's National Institute of History and Anthropology (INAH) has confirmed a complex network of underground passageways and chambers beneath an ancient church at the site of Mitla, a Zapotec religious complex.

This particular system may be the underground labyrinth that the ancient Zapotecs called Lyobaa, or "entrance to hell."

Survey images of the area known as the "Church Group" in Mitla show structures that could very well be Zapotec "gates to hell" labyrinths.

The research team used advanced geophysical methods such as ground penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistance tomography (ERT)... to survey several areas in Mitla and discovered anomalies in the area of the medieval church of San Pablo Apostol.

The discovery also fits with ancient texts, as a 17th-century priest in the area described the Zapotec underground labyrinth Lyobaa in a note.

The team also identified additional anomalies beneath areas dubbed the Calvario Group, Arroyo Group and South Group of the monument cluster.

It could be undiscovered chambers or tombs.

At a palace in an area called the Columns Group, they also discovered the remains of a grand staircase, which also hints at a potential underground structure.

Field exploration will be needed to confirm these findings, but the evidence is sufficient to suggest that beneath Mexico's famous Mitla site there is a whole underground world waiting to be explored.

Mitla is one of Mexico's most famous archaeological sites, located in the Oaxaca Valley in the southern state of Oaxaca.

Meanwhile, the Zapotec civilization was one of the pre-Columbian indigenous civilizations that flourished in Mesoamerica, specifically in the Oaxaca Valley in Mexico.

Archaeological evidence suggests that this culture existed at least 2,500 years ago.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/mexico-cong-dia-nguc-lo-ra-ben-duoi-di-tich-zapotec-noi-tieng-196241014110505666.htm