MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—Underground anomalies detected in front of the steps at the Temple of Inscriptions at the Maya site of Palenque have led to the discovery of a water tunnel with a fitted stone cover. Archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez told the Associated Press that the same type of stone covering has been found inside the temple, in the floor of the tomb of K’inich Janaab Pakal, ruler of Palenque between A.D. 615 and 683. Researchers used a robot fitted with a camera to examine the small shaft, but no link to the tomb has been found so far. Researchers think the tomb and pyramid may have been built over a spring whose water, channeled through the tunnels, may have been intended to offer a path to the underworld for Pakal’s spirit. This idea is based upon an inscription found on a pair of stone ear plugs from in the grave. A similar water tunnel has been found at Teotihuacán. “In both cases there was a water current present. There is this allegorical meaning for water…where the cycle of life begins and ends,” said Pedro Sanchez Nava, director of archaeology for the National Institute of Anthropology and History. To read in-depth about a Maya king, go to "Tomb of the Vulture Lord."
