What can be considered the largest submerged cave in the world has just been discovered on the eastern coast of Mexico. A team of divers from the Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM), a project dedicated to the study and preservation of the groundwater of the Yucatan Peninsula, discovered a connection between two large caves, the 263-kilometer Sac Actun, and Dos Ojos, with 83 kilometers.

The discovery of the connection reveals that, in fact, the two caves are a single underground cave, approximately 347 kilometers. “This huge cave represents the most important submerged archaeological site in the world,” said the researcher of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and director of the GAM project, Guillermo de Anda.

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Besides the surprising size, another fact intrigued the divers: stairways, walls and spaces modified by humans were discovered. It seems that the average depth is 20 kilometers, but there are stretches in which it does not exceed two meters. For the researchers, the human evidence would be from ancient civilizations such as the Mayan – who lived the region for many years.

In addition, the Yucatán Peninsula, still replete with relics and Mayan monuments, houses remnants of cities that used an extensive network of marshes and wells connected to underground waters, known as cenotes.

With the premise that the site will continue to be studied, for the time being, the cave will be called only Sac Actun, since the archaeological rules establish that in situations like this, if two cave systems meet, the larger one absorbs the smaller .

Source: PANROTAS

Photo: Press Release