Divers have discovered underwater caves near the Tulum city in Mexico. Spanning 347 kilometers these are the world’s longest caves and can be rightly called the underwater wonderland. After ten months of extensive search, the Underwater Exploration Group of the Great Maya Aquifier Project (GAM) found a connection between two of the extensive flooded cavern systems- Sac Actun and Dos Ojos, both in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. These now form the world’s largest and longest flooded cave.

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An interesting element of this archaeological discovery is, it holds some secrets of the Mayan civilization. This immense cave represents the most important submerged archaeological site in the world, since it has more than a hundred archaeological contexts, among which is evidence of the first settlers of America, as well as the extinct fauna and, of course, of the Maya culture," says Guillermo de Anda, a director of the GAM. This phase of underwater exploration began in March 2017 under GAM director of exploration Robert Schmittner and his team. The archaeological findings will help to understand the development of the rich culture within the region.

The Maya civilization is noted for the development of a writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas. They had books written in their script. This civilization had complex society systems including agriculture in earliest villages. The Mayans occupied southeastern Mexico and lowlands in the Yucatán Peninsula. They had also developed series of ritual calendars.

The Yucatán Peninsula hosts 358 submerged cave systems, spreading for almost 1400 kilometers hidden under the surface. The Sac Actun System passage is so big that it brings together two caverns. In rules of caving, when two cave systems are connected, the largest cave absorbs the smallest, so the name of the latter disappears. Here, Sac Actun absorbs Dos Ojos (and its former length). "It was like trying to follow the veins within a body. It was a labyrinth of paths that sometimes came together and sometimes separated. We had to be very careful,” describes Robert Schmittner in a report. At number second now comes Ox Bel Ha System from the same area that stretches for 270 kilometers.

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What makes this finding valuable is these freshwater reserves supporting the biodiversity in the Yucatán Peninsula. Such findings help to understand human being’s relations with ancestral waters. The next phase of this ambitious project includes studying the water quality of the Sac Actun System and also ways of conservation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 19, 2018 01:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).