This captivating video follows a team of explorers and archaeologists as they utilize groundbreaking lidar technology to investigate the hidden world of the ancient Maya. By mapping dense jungles in Central America from the air, they uncover thousands of previously unknown structures, underground caves, and ritual sites that shed new light on the complexity and reach of Maya civilization. The documentary highlights the intersection of technology, adventure, and historical mystery as the team dives into treacherous caves and cenotes believed by the Maya to be portals to the underworld.

Audiences are drawn in by the firsthand discoveries of sacrificial sites, human remains, ceremonial pottery, and monumental pyramids built atop mountain ridges. The exploration reveals Maya rituals that included offerings of valuable goods, water, and even children, reflecting a sophisticated and often dark religious tradition. The journey also documents the challenges and dangers faced by archaeologists as they race against time and the encroaching rainy season to unearth and interpret these newfound treasures.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. lidar [ˈlaɪdɑːr] - (noun) - A remote sensing technology that uses laser light to measure distances and generate precise, three-dimensional information about the Earth's surface. - Synonyms: (laser imaging, remote sensing, 3D mapping)

Using lidar technology that can see through dense jungle like an X ray.

2. cenote [sɛˈnoʊteɪ] - (noun) - A natural pit or sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock, exposing groundwater underneath, especially found in the Yucatan Peninsula and often considered sacred by the Maya. - Synonyms: (sinkhole, well, natural shaft)

This region is home to around 6,000 water filled caves called cenotes.

3. intrepid [ɪnˈtrɛpɪd] - (adjective) - Fearless, adventurous, or brave, especially in the face of danger or difficulty. - Synonyms: (brave, fearless, bold)

Now, armed with the new map, some of the world's most intrepid archaeologists.

4. orifice [ˈɔːrɪfɪs] - (noun) - An opening or hole, often used to describe the mouth of a vessel or other container. - Synonyms: (opening, aperture, hole)

This is a big water jar, this big orifice.

5. monumental [ˌmɒnjəˈmɛntl] - (adjective) - Large and impressive, or of great significance; often refers to structures or events. - Synonyms: (colossal, immense, significant)

We found a stela right there, a monumental stone or stele that could reveal carvings.

6. consortium [kənˈsɔːrʃiəm] - (noun) - An association or partnership of multiple organizations working together for a common purpose. - Synonyms: (association, alliance, coalition)

Called the Pakunam lidar initiative, it involves a consortium of international and Guatemalan experts.

7. astonishing [əˈstɒnɪʃɪŋ] - (adjective) - Extremely surprising or impressive; amazing. - Synonyms: (amazing, breathtaking, incredible)

And the results are simply astonishing.

8. gruesome [ˈɡruːsəm] - (adjective) - Causing horror, disgust, or shock, especially in reference to something involving death or injury. - Synonyms: (horrific, ghastly, grisly)

...but something much more gruesome.

9. ritual [ˈrɪtʃuəl] - (noun / adjective) - A ceremonial act or a detailed method of performing a religious or solemn rite; can also describe actions done as part of a tradition. - Synonyms: (ceremony, rite, observance)

Finding any evidence of ritual activity would be a remarkable discovery.

10. aerial [ˈɛriəl] - (adjective) - Existing, happening, or operating in the air; often refers to surveys or views from above. - Synonyms: (overhead, skyward, elevated)

The map is a result of an ambitious aerial survey using lasers mounted on aircraft to chart a landscape hidden beneath 800 square miles of of dense jungle.

11. phenomenal [fəˈnɒmɪnəl] - (adjective) - Very remarkable; extraordinary or exceptional. - Synonyms: (extraordinary, remarkable, outstanding)

This is a phenomenal find.

12. threshold [ˈθrɛʃhoʊld] - (noun) - A point of entry or beginning; the start of a new state or experience. - Synonyms: (entrance, brink, gateway)

Wow, I feel like I'm going through the threshold here.

The Mayan Ruins (Full Episode) - Lost Treasures of the Maya - National Geographic

I can't see the bottom. I want to go there. Oh, yeah, let's do it. This is where it's at. I mean it's technology meets adventure, meets the frontier of the unknown. Right here. I'm about to go into the Maya underworld. Oh, it's so dark in here. I think this is the craziest thing I've ever. Deep within this remote jungle cavern, startling evidence of Maya ritual sacrifice.

I'm Albert Lynn, engineer. There's a forgotten world down there. Lost cities hidden in the jungle. And National Geographic explorer frontier. The Maya world is actually right under our feet. I'm on a mission to uncover the secrets of one of the world's most mysterious ancient ancient civilizations, the Maya. And right now, technology is revealing a whole new story.

New technology revealed in ancient civilization in Central America may have been much more complex than archaeologists believe. In 2018, National Geographic broke the news of an incredible discovery that captivated the entire world. And I was right there to see it. Wow. Revealed from the sky, this is the most important development in Maya archaeology in a hundred years. And on the ground, it gives you like chills up your back.

Using lidar technology that can see through dense jungle like an X ray. Okay, you ready to see it? Without the trees. More than 60,000 man made structures brought to light in an incredible new treasure map. Oh, look at that. We get it. Very narrow. Now, armed with the new map, some of the world's most intrepid archaeologists. It's gonna be dangerous. Sure. Are taking on the jungle. It's got an inscription. In search of its secret. We have a skeleton. All on a quest to rewrite the astonishing story of the Maya.

The world of the Maya. Remote and mysterious, all this wild jungle was home to a vast civilization, the Maya. That ancient world been lost for centuries. But today, for the first time, we can see through the trees. And what we're finding, it's mind blowing. This time I'm on a mission to uncover the strange world of of Maya ritual. I'll be following the very first excavation of a remote cluster of ancient pyramids and revealing victims of human sacrifice. Could be the top of somebody's head. I'll be diving into the dangerous realm of the ancestors. I'm about to go into the Maya underworld. Are you kidding me? There's a whole world under here. And seeing how a newly discovered jungle cave was once a portal to the ancient Maya underworld. Oh, Dennis, there's a bone here. Discoveries that are revealing new evidence of Maya ritual and the world of their gods.

Deep in the jungles of northern Guatemala, Scientist Leila dawn and geographer Duncan Cook are hunting for secrets of the Maya. They are heading out from base camp close to an ancient city called El Zotz. Their mission, to investigate the base of a remote mountain that the new lidar treasure map suggests might contain the entrance to an undiscovered cave. The lidar has identified quite a number of interesting sites up there which show great promise, I think, for potential caves.

The Maya occupied a vast region of Central America across what is now Guatemala and southern Mexico, as well as parts of Belize and Honduras. Over more than 2,000 years, the Maya tamed the jungle, creating cities of dazzling sophistication. But there was also a dark side of blood and human sacrifice to the gods that lived in the sky and to the mysterious underworld beneath the ground.

Base camp et al Zotz. Can I ask you to double check? I think Duncan and I heard different coordinates. Okay. Just for the northing, before the lidar map, no one had any idea that this mystery cave existed at all. When we got the lidar data over El Zotz, the geology is revealed in a way that we've never been able to see before. Site director and National Geographic explorer Tom Garrison has brought in cave explorers Leila and Duncan to verify the new data. I was thinking this area north of Elzotes. Maybe this could be a cave zone. Yeah. So we've just come in from Belize and we've seen many cave sites there located near my settlements. And great to see, really, weren't it, if there's these strong links between the underworld and the surface. Well, here. Maybe we'll find out more about this. Yeah. Now you guys just need to go find them. All right. Yeah. We ready?

The plan, guided by the lidar map, locate the cave and then enter it for the very first time. These caves, there's nothing published on them. They're not mapped. They're complete unknowns. So that really leaves this huge knowledge gap. Yes. Here we are. Oh, sweet. Let's get to work. Let's see.

Right now, no one knows whether this cave was ever visited by the Maya. Finding any evidence of ritual activity would be a remarkable discovery. All right, we get up. Should we go in? Yeah. All right, let's get in a bit further. Check this out. Almost immediately, the cave narrows dangerously. So a small, just like a small entrance cabin here, they drop you back a little. That's a real tight squeeze. There you go. It's amazing to think that in all likelihood, we're probably the first human beings who have even Been through these caves in a thousand years. Yeah, it's absolutely amazing thing.

Only if the team finds any remains will they launch a full exploration. But then 50ft into the cave. Look at this. What do you got? This is. It's a large piece of ceramic. It looks like it has a nice slip on it. It's a nice reddish color. What are the features? It's still intact. Excellent stuff. Yeah, super exciting. Let's see what else we got. All right, let's keep going. Wow. Here's another one. Oh, yeah. It looks like it's the rim of a pot. This is a phenomenal find. The Maya often broke pottery as a form of sacrifice, so this could be a sign of ritual offering.

It's entirely feasible that the Maya ventured down these tunnels, typically for kind of ritual purposes. We see this in other parts of the Maya world, but yet not around here. We've discovered no evidence of this. So this is a real first. Any caver in the world would be thrilled about discovering something like this.

Until the new lidar treasure map, this cave was completely unknown, its secret contents undiscovered. The map is a result of an ambitious aerial survey using lasers mounted on aircraft to chart a landscape hidden beneath 800 square miles of of dense jungle. Called the Pakunam lidar initiative, it involves a consortium of international and Guatemalan experts. And the results are simply astonishing. From above, you can see nothing but trees. But Ladar can take the trees away, laying bare an entire civilization in all, more than 60,000 ancient structures created by the Maya.

In San Diego, where I research, I've been given special access to the new data. And two of the project leaders, Marcello Canuta and Tom Garrison, are joining me to explore it on a massive scale. Okay, you ready to see it without the trees? Let's see it. Let's do this. Let's do it. Wow. Yeah. This is amazing. The map is set to completely rewrite the story of the Maya. It's a scale of discovery that it just blows everyone's mind. And it's gotta transform the fundamental understanding of this entire civilization.

Well, we're definitely talking about a period that is pre lidar and post lidar in Maya archaeology. And everything that we know now is going to be different from what we knew before. It's that big of a change. Incredible discoveries are being made right across the survey area. It's revealing palaces and pyramids and the great Maya cities as never before. But the lidar is also revealing some very different features, including our newly identified mystery cave near El Zotz. Where Leila Don and Duncan Cook are exploring for the very first time. Who knows what we'll find? I mean, so far, there's no end to this tunnel, and it's taken half an hour to go just a hundred feet.

But as they hunt for more treasures. Oh, that was us. Oh, man. The floor has fallen. Keep away from the engine. They encounter a dangerous collapse. Oh, looks like it fell into another level. Oh, my gosh. Layla and Duncan's exploration is brought to an abrupt halt. Got this big collaps section. It kind of the whole floor is collapsed down into the lower levels as well too. Unless they can deal with the collapsed rock, they'll have to end their mission. We've got these priceless Maya ceramic shards scattered everywhere. We still didn't see all of them. We've got to start mapping further into the cage, see how far it goes. The local support team comes up with a plan in the shape of a quickly improvised ladder. With light beginning to fade, Layla heads back inside. Gotta get it around those two big boulders out there, the stiff 10 or 12 foot long ladder that's being moved around all these rocks. And it's pretty stuffy in here. Pretty stuffy and warm. All right. That's the point of last contact with the surface.

For safety, someone must stay at the entrance to raise the alarm if there's an accident. This time, it's Duncan's turn. A little bit nerve wracking being out here this whole time and just waiting for the team to come back. Deep inside the cave and isolated in remote jungle, the team needs to be back at camp before dark. At this moment, we have 10 minutes, maybe 15 to check out this new side. Dennis, you know, if it gets dark, it's gonna be dangerous. Sure. All that's left for us to do is to lower the ladder down to this collapsed area. The jungle ladder is in place. The collapse is a clue to dangerous instabilities in the limestone. We'll just leave it here. Yeah. So there's gonna be like a bunch of loose stuff here, so I have to be really, really careful. Loose rocks navigated. Leila and fellow caver Dennis push deeper. Whoa. That was loose. Then 150ft in. Yeah. This is crazy. The tunnel opens out into a wide cavern, the perfect location for ancient ritual. It's really impressive. Looking at this hill, you would have no idea that this is what's inside. Have you ever seen anything like this? No. And there are more finds. There's ceramic down here again in this dark layer. And then. Oh, geez. There's a bone here. There's a bone, there's a bunch of ceramic mixed in. Until this cave is fully investigated, it's impossible to tell if the bone is animal or human. And whether all these remains were washed here from the entrance by floodwater, or if the Maya once came into this deep cavern to carry out rituals.

Gotta go now we're running late and running out of daylight. We are definitely out of time. We found a kind of large cavern with cultural remains. Fantastic. Yeah. I mean, there's a bone in context with ceramics, though. Amazing work. Yeah. Discovered by lidar, this is now an important new archaeological site in need of further investigation. It's very exciting because there have been no caves in this area found with cultural remains in them. So that makes this really unique and really exciting for cavers, geologists, archaeologists, everyone up here in the sky.

I feel I'm flying through the domain of the Maya gods. High above the jungle that was home to the living Maya, and beneath that, the mysterious underworld that they believed was home to deities and the spirits of their ancestors. It's a world that's still full of secrets. The jungle seems to go on forever, but I'm gonna keep going to see just how far the Maya world reach.

I'm heading 300 miles north of Guatemala to Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, another part of the ancient Maya world. A region entirely riddled with caves and underground rivers. We're literally just a stone's throw away from a major highway and already we're into this wild jungle. But what's wild about it is that the last frontier of the Maya world might be hidden just in plain sight, right beneath our feet.

This region is home to around 6,000 water filled caves called cenotes. And it turns out that many are connected deep underground. This is one of the entrances that have been found so far to the largest underwater cave system in the world. This cenote joins the Sac Actun cave system, which runs for more than 200 miles beneath the jungle. And it's almost completely uncharted. I want to know what's going on in the Maya underworld. I want to go and see how technology can bring this world and the story in this world back to the surface.

For the Maya, cenotes were a vital source of water and they were also sacred entrances to the underworld. The Maya would make offerings to the rain God Chaac, throwing sacrificial human victims into the dark, watery depths. Dive. Archaeologist and National Geographic explorer Guillermo d' Anda is masterminding a large scale investigation of Mexico's Cenotes and today I'm going in search of evidence of ancient rituals for myself. A cave under us right now. Oh, yes, all this is. It's a huge, huge underground cave system. The cenote we're looking for is not easily found. Hidden in the jungle, its entrance is just a few feet across. I can't see the bottom. You are really into another layer of the universe. I can totally get it. So you walk along, you're in this forest, and then all of a sudden, here you are standing on top of this black hole into nothingness. Yep. You can kind of get a sense of why they would have thought this was into another world. I want to go there. Yeah, let's do it.

Getting in means a 60 foot rappel to reach a water filled cavern. This is where it's at. I mean, it's technology meets adventure, meets the frontier of the unknown right here. Right. You know, and I consider this probably the last frontier of exploration besides the oceans. Here it is. There is thousands of kilometers of not mapped underground passengers in this area. With my gear on and the rope team ready, it's time to go in. All right, here we go. Let's start. Okay. Wow. I feel like I'm going through the threshold here. Wow, it's huge down here. Are you kidding me? I think this is the craziest thing I've ever done. Rappelling down, I'm descending into the Maya underworld. It almost feels like we're in the basement of the world. You would never imagine when you're standing above that there's a whole world under here. Guillermo has explored this remote cenote before, but for me, it's a whole new experience.

Let's see, what can we find? I'm ready. As we dive down, the light quickly fades into complete darkness. It's dangerous and forbidding, but at the same time magical and enticing. And then out of the darkness, my torchlight catches something. An ancient water jug, perfectly preserved. With 40 minutes of oxygen left in my tank, I'm determined to push deeper in search of more treasures. But ritual activity was not only confined to the underworld. For the Maya, the gods were ever present. Forces with the power to make rain, bring sun, or ensure a bountiful harvest from the earth.

Back in Guatemala, 300 miles to the south, archaeologist and National Geographic explorer Francisco Estonada Belli is investigating another newly discovered site. He's exploring the jungle close to a small ancient city called Witzna. So the goal is to excavate these new pyramids that we identified in the lidar These are. These are all completely new. The new lidar map has revealed thousands of new sites. But Francisco's discovery is one of the most intriguing of them all. Now he's joining me in San Diego to explore the new data. Yeah, so you look at this. It's just lots of trees, right? Yeah. Well, let's get rid of the trees. Without lidar, the area around Huitzna is nothing but jungle wilderness. But take away the trees, and high on a mountain ridge, something appears. An isolated pyramid. Well, you know, from the lidar, it just looks so odd because there aren't that many isolated pyramids like this one for this region. This is very unusual. So you've got this place built on top of the highest mountain in the area. What's special about it? Because it's on the tallest hill in the entire region, it's probably one of the most important pyramids. Maya pyramids were built to mimic mountains, reaching up into the world of the gods. Unlike Egyptian pyramids, they were meant to be climbed. Their pinnacles scenes of bloodletting and human sacrifice. Did the Maya have a thing with mountaintops, a way to connect to gods? Actually, yes. The mountains were the residing places of gods and ancestors. And so the more important the God, the bigger the mountain. And pyramids themselves are built. Mountains. The Maya name these structures using this word, huts, meaning mountain. So we'll see. A pyramid is given a name, and it's called a mountain. And it is also a home for someone sacred, a deceased king. Most Maya pyramids are found in the center of cities. But Francisco's newly discovered pyramid is different. It's far from any city center. Built on top of a mountain, which could make it very special. What's more, the new lidar map reveals it's not alone, but one of a whole group of previously unknown pyramids on this remote ridge.

This season, with the new treasure map, Francisco is investigating them for the very first time. And he's brought a whole team to start digging. Francisco thinks the pyramids could be temples to local gods. There might be other offerings, so those will give us a better understanding of the religion and the ritual practices. While one of Francisco's excavation teams gets to work at the base of the pyramid. He's called to the top, where there's been a discovery. Oh, my gosh. That's really interesting. Oh, that's a lot of pottery. You can see there's more. Yes. Oh, yeah, I can see it. So all this and then over there. This continues inside. It's over there. Oh, yeah. I can See it? Oh my gosh, it's. The whole building is covered in broken ceramics. One of a whole group of remote pyramids discovered by Lighthearted Jar is covered with thousands of pieces of broken ancient pottery, just like those in the caves of Elzotz. These are undecorated jars. That's what you have for just storing water. This is a big water jar, this big orifice. And the body of the jar would be like this. There had to be a very good reason for the Maya to come here and break a lot of pots on top of the pyramid and burn them. You can see how they're all burnt. They were offering a water jar. Water has a lot of symbolism. It's all consistent. This is not a trash heap. It's the result of a major ritual. This pottery wasn't broken by accident. It was purposefully sacrificed, perhaps along with its valuable water. It leaves Francisco in no doubt that this pyramid was once a place of Maya rituals on a massive scale.

And down below, there's been another find. We found a stela right there, a monumental stone or stele that could reveal carvings. Archaeologist Alex Tokavinena is a world leading expert on Maya glyphs. If he can read any carvings, it could reveal clues to the entire site. The Maya were obsessive recorders of names, places and dates. Often found preserved unpainted ceramics and in monumental carvings. But their glyph writing is still only partially understood. And centuries of erosion can make it almost impossible to read, even for experts like Alex. That should be the ways, right? Unless it's all hieroglyphic, which I don't think. No, no, no, no, it's not. So there's definitely carving on the bottom of this monument and Alex is pretty much the only person who can read that. And so he's taking a look at it. So do you think it's a king? It's probably a king. Probably get a stele of their own. Yeah, usually we don't get non royals. Alex wants to turn it over to see more, but the stone is crumbling and turning it is a big risk. Here's the plant. Try to lift it and then flip it without, you know, just flipping it and scratching it. I think we have enough people that we can just lift them. Senores, the plan is to create a pillow basically with soft dirt on which we can rest the monument without lifting it outright because I'm afraid it's going to break into smaller pieces. So we're just going to slide it onto its head, basically, and then, and then rest it on. On the edge of the excavation. This is that delicate moment and literally it's make it or break it. Any writing they can find could help explain the pyramids and the sacrifice pottery if they can safely turn it. Nerve wracking. Francisco's monumental stone is turned and carvings appear. Alex can make out glimpses of what might be a human figure. Sandals. He thinks it could be a Maya king, but the picture is incomplete. We barely have a half of the monument here. The upper half is missing entirely. It's still being situ or further up. Well, unless that was it. No, cannot be. It cannot be. It cannot still. Still underneath. It's right there. So it's underneath here? Yeah.

Then Alex spots some very different evidence of a dramatic past. Well, it's burnt. I think that's what it is. Just like the pottery on top of the pyramid. It seems that this monument was once intentionally destroyed. The stone got heated and then flaked off, most likely because of heating. Either there was a big bonfire in the front of the monument, which is possible, burning offerings on an altar in front of it, or somebody really didn't like people who lived here and made a big bonfire and broke this stone and then burned everything around it. So it was a hostile act, you see, good acts, ritual acts, and hostile ritual acts are sometimes very similar in terms of the kind of signature they leave on things, it's very hard to tell.

Evening and Francisco is back at his base camp near Huitzna. The rainy season is fast approaching and Francisco can only excavate for another four weeks. We're really running against time because a month is not. There's not much time for this. The plan is to now just breathe on their neck so they dig faster.

Back in Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula, I'm exploring one of hundreds of miles of caves deep beneath what was once Maya civilization. Down here, I can feel why the Maya believed these were portals to the underworld, a place of gods and ancestors. Guiding me is dive archaeologist Guillermo de Anda. As I search for evidence of ritual offerings amongst the debris, more ancient pottery. Guillermo records every find digitally, leaving the remains preserved in place. In the dark silence, it almost feels as if the Mai are still living all around me. It's a dangerous place, but also incredibly thrilling. And then emerging from the gloom, a very different sort of offering. A victim of Maya human sacrifice preserved in dark silence for centuries. It's magical but chilling. Whoever this was, I must leave them behind. My oxygen is running low and I want to make it back to the surface world. The water's completely clear and so still. You're just hovering through this unbelievable cathedral of limestone. I felt like I was staring face to face with an ancient Mayan. What do you think happened to that person? Was probably thrown here as part of a ritual, maybe sacrifice. The Maya thought these places were sacred. Okay, so this is the perfect place to make an offering for your God. Because there's a huge drought, they need rain for agriculture, so they come here and beg their goats for rain, for health.

In just a single dive, I've encountered clear evidence of Maya rituals. And with thousands of unmapped caves, finds like this are only the very beginning. And the fact that this is one of maybe 6,000 cenotes in the Yucatan and that it's only now beginning to be explored, means that this is an entire chapter to the understanding of these people that is just now, of course, being opened. It's happening. Yeah. We're living a great moment, so let's take advantage of it. The frontier of exploration, huh? That frontier, yeah.

Back in northern Guatemala, it's early morning at Francisco Space Camp, three weeks after his excavations began. He's preparing to head out to his newly discovered pyramids, but the rains have arrived. We're going to be in the back of the truck for two hours going to Wisna, so we'll be really wet by the time we get there. It's a rainy season this way. I don't sweat too much.

Francisco thinks he might have discovered a group of remote temples. He's already found an enormous number of ritually destroyed water pots and a monumental stone depicting a king that appears to have been ritually burnt. He's going to be joined by American archaeologist Katie Ahern, who's been digging nearby. So we had a bit of a late start today because of the rain, but we'll be heading off shortly to the site. The rains have only just begun, and the tracks are already waterlogged. I look a little bit more authentic.

Katie has been excavating at a water pit at the base of the biggest of Francisco's pyramids. And inside, she has made an ominous discovery. Human remains. So here are the teeth. We've got one with three roots. Three roots on a molar. That's a genetic trait for Native Americans. So the Maya. Now you have an incisor, some baby teeth. You have some milk teeth. Yeah, this is from a child or. Well, they could be different age children. The discovery of a child's teeth in Katie's water pit is a mystery. This is human remains that have been buried into this Underground chamber that typically should be used to hold water. So there's. There's many questions here now at this point. So her job is to excavate this entire set of artifacts, and maybe at the end, we'll have some answers. In the water pit, Katie has also found what she thinks is part of a pot. May I go in there and. Okay, this is gonna be a big. Yeah, a big one. To excavate Katie. Yeah, I found something. I'm not sure it's a pot. I think it could be the top of somebody's head.

What Katie thought was the base of a pot is in fact, a human skull. Oh. It looked like a bowl, but it's really got all these bumps. You know, it's a small one. So it could be a young person, a child. It was this way. And the teeth probably came from just above it. So everything is consistent with this not being a bulb, being a decayed skull. And this is just the back of. Could be a ritual burial or a sacrifice. The lack of any other bones in the pit suggests to Katie that this was no ordinary burial, but something much more gruesome. It is possible, since we've only found the base of the skull, that this individual was sacrificed at a young age, maybe decapitated. The Maya believe to in sacrificing only what was precious to them. And in Maya society, the most precious of all were children. Typically storage chambers, they become symbols for the underworld. So they put offerings to the dead and to the gods of the underworld in there. So this could be one of those cases.

Until the lidar survival, no one had any idea that there was anything built on this remote jungle ridge. But now Francisco's newly discovered site at Witznah, with its group of mystery pyramids, is already yielding astonishing evidence of religious ceremonies and gruesome ritual killings. Found the skull of a child there. Yes, child sacrifice. It's definitely evidence that this was an important ritual place. That's exactly what we were hoping to find. The Maya believed in sacrifice as a way to appease their gods. I felt like I was staring face to face with an ancient Mayan. Anything of value could be offered from ceramic water jugs. Looks like it's the rim of a pot. This is a phenomenal find. To the most precious thing of all to be a young person, a child.

Now, thanks to the pioneering lidar treasure map. Let's do it. Wow. intrepid archaeologists are making incredible new discoveries. This is somebody's foot. That are at last unlocking long lost secrets behind the mysterious rituals and sacrifices of the ancient Maya.

ARCHAEOLOGY, INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, MAYA CIVILIZATION, ANCIENT RITUALS, HUMAN SACRIFICE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC