Discovery in Yucatan: cave with millenary handprints of Maya children

Mérida, Yucatán, (March 18, 2021).- In the southern tip of the state of Yucatán, inside a cave whose location has not been yet revealed by researchers, 137 handprints were found, mainly belonging to Maya children, which were made about 1,000 or 1,200 years ago.

The prints are made positive and negative, and according to the specialist in the field, Sergio Grosjean, studies indicate that the age of these traces is about a thousand years, would have been made between the years 800 and 1000 AC.

Although the location of the cave will not be revealed until the investigations are finished, it was indicated that it is reached after traveling 5 minutes in the middle of the jungle, and after reaching a huge ceiba tree, a 10-meter deep hole is accessed, until reaching the 35-meter vault where the very well-preserved handprints were found.

A ritual for Maya children?

The handprints correspond to adults and children, the latter more numerous, and are shown in black and red. It is presumed that it could be a ritual related to the harvests, or to celebrate a ceremony of transition from childhood to puberty.

The cave also revealed a carved face, 6 reliefs with paintings that would have the same age as the handprints.

It should be mentioned that, according to the INAH, this type of handprints have been found in caves and structures such as the Chichén Itzá Observatory, and it is presumed that it could be a code whose meaning or reason is not yet clear, but it could be related with a form of communication.