Open the Mayan hell gate

Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is littered with thousands of mysterious caves that once served as a haven for prehistoric people and later became a sacred Mayan sacrifice. Currently, German archaeologists and filmmakers are working on an exploration project to explore the underwater cave labyrinth in this area, with the help of modern recording technology and making techniques. 3d movie.

125 sets of remains in deep wells

A 10,000-year-old skeleton of a boy

The remains of more than 125 people lie in the Las Calaveras natural deep well that no one knows why and how they lie there. Natural deep wells on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula are considered beautiful underworlds and contain many mysteries. They appear when the underground limestone cave ceiling collapses. Some holes are flooded with rainwater, while others lead to underground waterways and connect with giant cave mazes.

In the Stone Age, many underground caves (at that time dry) were used as a residence for people and buried dead people. Later, the Mayans did not dare to go to the wells because they saw them as gateways or gates leading down to the Xibalba underground world (meaning "The place of fear" ). For the first time these underground caves were filmed with 3D cameras and the documentary "Cave of the Dead" will be released in the spring of 2013.

In order to make the film, the participants suffered from a physical and emotional challenge. For example, to reach the skeletons located at the bottom of the Las Calaveras deep well, people and heavy equipment must be hard to get through the upper opening of the 1m-wide hole. Director Norbert Vander has just clung to the slippery rock that has directed the crew. The temperature in the dense forest is about 30 ^degrees Celsius and the humid air is like in a Turkish sauna. The 3D camera used in water weighs up to 80kg and is taken deep for work.

Insert the tool down the deep well from the upper opening.

The film crew dragged the bulky camera and equipment weighing hundreds of kilograms across the jungle for three long weeks. Responsible for underwater filming are 4 deep diving professionals from the northern German city of Kiel. Dive deep into underground caves is extremely dangerous and technically more challenging than anywhere else.

Moreover, filming underwater with a camera weighing 80kg and constantly changing depth is overworked. Florian Huber - the leader of the deep diving team and expert of the University of Kiel Prehistory and History of Archeology - said that every minute of the film is a worthwhile and intellectual investment. He said: "Filming this underground cave documentary is a fundamental study. It helps us discover many past mysteries."

3D camcorder underwater weighs up to 80kg.

Such work is essential, especially for underground caves in Mexico, where exploration work has just begun a few years ago. Las Calaveras deep well, which contains 125 scattered skeletons, is just the tip of the iceberg. Scientists must continue to explore more underground caves. Huber said: "At present people only know about 3,000 to 5,000 underground caves, but the total number is estimated to be 10,000".

Discover treasures of the past

In prehistoric times, the dead were often buried in deep dark underground. When the sea level suddenly rose after the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, the water level in the caves - which connected to the Atlantic Ocean - also rose. And, since then, the skeletons and tools from the Stone Age have also gradually emerged.

Some deep wells have a beautiful landscape.

Later, the Mayans - people living in the area from about 3,000 BC to 900 AD - threw porcelain and jewels (and people) into natural deep wells. Therefore, human remains including extinct animals such as Megalonychoidea and mastodon have experienced many underground periods.

Huber explains: "Perhaps the deep wells contain answers to questions such as when the first humans reached the Americas and the continent was shaped." Even the water preserves things that will probably disappear in the short term on land. For example, in the Toh Ha cave system, scientists stumbled upon a 10,000-year-old skeleton of a boy.

Scientist Guillermo de Anda, a leading expert on deep wells in Mexico.

Finding the labyrinth mazes in the middle of the jungle is extremely difficult, and exploration is an extremely dangerous challenge. Only the lights keep the scientists from getting lost in the thick darkness and avoiding being caught between narrow openings. Some wells are more than 100m deep and compressed air is not enough at this depth.

To avoid the coma caused by nitrogen and oxygen poisoning, deep divers must use other products, such as Trimix - a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and helium. Uli Kunz, a biologist and underwater photographer, said: "Sometimes we penetrate deep into the cave for up to 1 km. Under such circumstances, if calculating the amount of oxygen supplied improperly, it would be easy to die. ! "

Deep diving team has been working in caves in Mexico since 2009, started using modern recording technology in 2010. About 63m ² of deep Las Calaveras wells were recorded by observation, and a series of photos Shooting underwater remains will be processed later by 3D models on the computer. "This is a powerful tool for research" - according to Guillermo de Anda, a leading expert on natural deep well systems in Mexico at the Yucatan Autonomous University.

The skull of an ancient person under a deep well.

Other high-tech methods are also used to explore the cave world. For example, use laser scanning technology to remove the entire forest on a computer. Scientists used this method to search for Mayan infrastructure.

Some deep wells are beautiful, while others are in the cave like horror movies. The branches sticking out in dim light looked like dead people's fingers. Scenes like this explain why the Mayans consider these natural deep wells to be gates to hell.

A 3D movie can be considered as the best way for viewers to experience the virtual underworld from the ground. Treasures in deep wells are in danger because the number of tourists who want to explore the underworld is growing fast. They often take away ceramic pieces as well as human bones or animal bones as a souvenir. Of course, the 3D movie about deep well systems in Mexico adds to the temptation. However, as Huber explains, the film can also promote respect for this sacred world to preserve it.