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Explorations of a submerged passage in the Tlayococ cave in Mexico led to an undiscovered room.
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Within the room, cave explorers discovered bracelets sitting atop stalagmites and other artifacts from a lost civilization.
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The motif on the shell bracelets traces to the extinct Tlacotepehuas ethnic group, about which relatively little is known.
A mapping expedition in the Tlayócoc cave in Mexico led a professional cave explorer to a hidden chamber containing shocking evidence of an extinct civilization.
Yekaterina Katiya Pavlova ventured to a community in the Sierra de Guerrero to further map the Tlayócoc cave. When Pavlova and local guide Adrián Beltrán Dimas reached the bottom of the cave, having already explored all that was mapped, they opted to head into an unknown passage through a submerged entrance. The effort paid off.
The passage led to a previously unseen room in which two engraved shell bracelets sat atop stalagmites, likely as an offering, according to a translated statement from the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The explorers also found another bracelet, a giant snail shell, and pieces of black stone discs similar to pyrite mirrors—all of it dated to more than 500 years ago.
Archaeologists then descended on the cave, uncovering 14 total objects—three shell bracelets, a bracelet fragment, the giant snail shell, a piece of burnt wood, and pieces of eight stone discs (two of which were complete). Each of the bracelets were made from snail shells—likely a marine species—and were engraved with anthropomorphic symbols and figures.
The bracelets feature S-shaped symbols known as xonecuilli, zigzagging lines,a and circles to create human faces in profile. These designs could be meant to signify deities.
The archaeologista estimate that the items were left in the cave during the Postclassic period between 950 and 1521 A.D.—a time when the area was known to be populated by the now-extinct Tlacotepehaus ethnic group.
“This finding is of great relevance, since, with the study of the contextual relationship of the pieces of the cave, we can interpret symbolic notions, cultural aspects, manufacturing, and even trade,” Miguel Perez, INAH archaeologist, said in a statement, “to characterize the pre-Hispanic societies settled in the Sierra de Guerrero.”
The archaeologists determined that the stalagmites were manipulated in pre-Hispanic times to give them a more spherical finish, likely to better fit with ritual needs.
“Possibly the symbols and representations of characters on the bracelets are related to pre-Hispanic cosmogony regarding creation and fertility,” Cuauhtemoc Reyes Alvarez, INAH archaeologist, said in a statement. He added that the sealed context allows experts to understand how the ancient inhabitants may have conceived of these caves—as portals to the underworld, or as sacred spaces connected to the Earth and the divine.
The black stone discs resemble others from nearby archaeological regions, such as El Infiernillo, along with ones from distant cultures like Huasteca.
Historical reports say extreme cold forced people groups living in the Sierra de Guerrero (located over 7,850 feet above sea level and filled by dense pine and oak forests) to lower altitudes. Little is known about the Tlacotepheuas, other than 16th century historical mentions of their presence. The snail-shell bracelets could help tell their story.
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