The sinister secret of the Crystal Maiden Cave

The Mayans believed that caves, especially those that extend for kilometers underground — are portals to the afterlife, or Xibalba, the "place of fear" where the lords of evil live. The Maya were afraid of the underworld and believed that it was necessary to appease the terrible gods who lived underground with the help of sacrifices, including human ones. One of these places where people were sacrificed to the gods of the afterlife is located in the very center of Belize, near the city of San Ignacio.

Aktun-Tunichil-Muknal, which means "the cave of the crystal maiden", which is also called ATM for short, was first explored in the late 1980s. The entrance to the cave is shaped like an hourglass and is flooded with water.

The remains of the solemn sacrifices can be found already at the entrance. At first, it's just shards.

But the more you go deeper, the more strange and sinister the artifacts you encounter seem.

About 400 meters from the entrance is the main hall, where 14 human skeletons lie, including the fossilized remains of the Crystal Maiden.

Who is this Crystal Maiden? It was a girl of about 20 years old, sacrificed by a Mayan priest during a religious sacrament more than a thousand years ago.

She is lying on her back with her mouth open, and her entire skeleton is covered with a shiny carbon spar formed during the decay of minerals. Because of this brilliance, she was nicknamed the Crystal Maiden. The cave was also named after her grave.

Other skeletons are either hidden in corners, or just lying in plain sight. These are the remains of various people, from one-year-old children to 30-year-old and 40-year-old adults.

Everywhere there are ceramic pots, musical instruments, jewelry, small figures and bones of seals that were used for bloodletting.

Many of these finds are fossilized and rooted to the floor of the cave.

The Maya also shaped the walls of the cave, creating altars for victims or silhouettes with faces or animals.

Recent studies of the ancient climate of Mesoamerica have shown that drought could have played a big role in the fall of civilization. Scientists suggest that human sacrifices were made, including to the rain god Shak, to stop the drought. They became more frequent in the IX century, just before the disappearance of the Maya civilization.

Most of the archaeological finds in the cave of the Crystal Maiden are left untouched, so the cave is considered the best preserved place of Mayan sacrifices.