Remains of 12,000-year-old ocher mines, the oldest on the American continent, have been discovered in underwater caves on the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, officials said on Friday. responsible for the discovery.
"These are the oldest known ocher mines in the Americas," said the Quintana Roo Aquifer System Research Center (CINDAQ), a private organization that explored the site and made the discovery.
Underground landscapes reshaped over 10,000 years ago
Access to these caves, which were once a dry space, is located approximately 10 kilometers inland from the famous beaches of the Mexican Caribbean, which attract millions of tourists from around the world. CINDAQ divers had to swim several kilometers through caves and passages that sometimes reach only 70 centimeters wide.
They found that the underground landscape had been artificially altered, indicating that other people were living in these spaces. Subsequently, this presence was established over 10,000 years ago.
Mining activity over 2,000 years
The explorers took samples, took more than 20,000 photos and made hours of video recording. They gave them to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) as well as to other international experts from different disciplines, who are working to assess the importance of the site. "This revealed for the first time remarkably preserved mining sites which include extraction beds, pits, excavation tools and debris" (...), added CINDAQ.
The first reports indicate that red ocher was a mineral pigment much appreciated by the first inhabitants of the western hemisphere, which would have encouraged them to explore these dangerous places to obtain it. The elaborate underground passages were once dry but they were flooded around 8,000 years ago, creating ideal conditions for preserving traces of ancient human activity, the source said.
Evidence of mining activity suggests that it spanned 2,000 years and occurred between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago. "It was 8,000 years before the establishment of the Mayan culture for which the region is well known," noted CINDAQ.
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