That all changed in 1952 when Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier discovered a hidden staircase inside the Temple of the Inscriptions that led to a tomb containing a jewel-bedecked skeleton wearing a jade mosaic death mask.
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Until the middle of the 20th century, it was common wisdom among archaeologists that the Mayan pyramids were not funerary monuments. They developed hieroglyphic writing, a calendar and astronomical system.
The water tunnels were discovered when, after the initial work at the site was begun in 2012, archaeologists came across anomalies in the geo-radar data that were originally feared to be a hole or fault that could eventually cause damage to the temple through subsidence.
Palenque was its most important city of the low western lands during the late Classic period, reaching its peak between 600 and 800 A.D. Along with Tikal and Calakmul, it was one of the most powerful Classic Mayan cities, as well as the seat of the distinguished Pakal dynasty. He added that other ancient water tunnels have also been found, such as in Teotihuacan, near Mexico City.
Hieroglyphics in the Temple of the Inscriptions recount the city’s dynastic history.
The underground tunnel is made of stone and is about two feet wide and tall.
Only a small section of the canal system has been yet studied with the aid of a camera mounted on a robot, but the specialists have reported that canals can be found in several orientations and levels. Since water is still flowing through the underground tunnels, the source is likely a natural spring.
Palenque Archaeological Project director Arnoldo Gonzalez, said the hydraulic system was meant to link Pakal to the Mayan water deity Chaac.
Gonzalez did not rule out the possibility that the canals were part of a drainage or water supply system.
Limestone sarcophagus with relief depicting King Pakal, reconstruction of the royal tomb from the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque.
There’s also a message on a wall in the tomb that says the dead need to be submerged before they can get into the underworld.
“We chose to study this information and that’s how we discovered that it was about complex hydraulic canals excavated directly on the mother rock, just below Pakal’s funerary chamber”, said Pedro Sanchez Nava, coordinator of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
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But archeologists have been unable to determine the length of the tunnel or where it begins.
