An incredible discovery found under a Mayan pyramid may have been a 'path' to the afterlife
A network of underground waterways may have led ancient Mayan rulers to the afterlife, according to new research at the Mayan ruins of Palenque in Mexico.
Archaeologists announced the discovery of the channels under the roughly 1,700-year-old Temple of Inscriptions on Monday. The temple is the burial site of the ancient ruler Pakal.
The tunnels channel water from beneath the temple towards the entrance - a path archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez told the Guardian was a potential portal to the afterlife.
He added that a pair of ear plugs his team uncovered in Pakal's grave have an inscription saying that a god "will guide the dead toward the underworld by submerging (them) into the water so they will be received there."
Previously, Pakal's resting place had been famous for the king's carved stone sarophagus, which some believed showed an image of the ruler at the controls of a spaceship.
According to the Agence-France Presse, water is still running through the channels, suggesting that the site is built on top of a still-active spring.