Russians find 500-year-old relics of an unknown culture in a cave in Mexico
At first, speleologists assumed that these were not artifacts, but trash left by tourists.
Speleologists, including Russians, have found 14 ancient artifacts in the Tlayococ cave in Mexico, which is located at an altitude of 2.4 thousand meters, the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH) reports.
"The collection consists of: three shell bracelets, possibly belonging to the marine species Triplofusus giganteus, a fragment of a bracelet of malacological origin, a giant snail of the species Strombus sp., a piece of charred wood, two whole stone disks similar to pyrite mirrors, six more fragments of disks, as well as sediment samples," the statement said.
Archaeologists believe the objects date to the Postclassic period and were probably placed in the cave between 950 and 1521 A.D. The artifacts most likely belong to the Tlacotepehua culture, which inhabited the region and remains poorly understood.
At first, cavers thought that the find was trash that had somehow been left at such a height by tourists.
"It was so exciting and incredible! For me, it was like opening a well more than 300 meters deep inside a cave, which requires a lot of work, but here we were lucky," INAH quotes Russian speleologist Ekaterina Pavlova as saying.
Archaeologist Miguel Perez Negrete noted that finding these decorations is not an easy task. The path is dangerous due to the presence of wild animals, snakes and pumas, which often chase people.
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