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Archaeologists have discovered a series of ancient tunnels beneath a centuries-old church in southern Mexico, believed by the ancient Zapotec civilization to be the "entrance to the underworld." The discovery was made in Mitla, a city known for its association with Pitao Bezelao, the Zapotec god of death. The city was razed by the Spanish in the 16th Century, who built a church on the ruins of its most important temple.https://metro.co.uk/2024/10/29/mysterious-ancient-tunnel-dubbed-entrance-underworld-found-mexico-21887911/
A priest, Francisco de Burgoa, later wrote that "the back door of hell" lay under the city. He described massive caverns believed to be the entrance to the Zapotec underworld. These were reportedly walled up, and subsequent excavations have failed to find anything matching the scale of his description.
Using non-invasive techniques, archaeologists recently revealed a series of chambers and tunnels beneath the city. Five different sets of ruins were probed: the church group, the arroyo group, the adobe group, the south group, and the group of the columns.
One chamber under the Church of San Pablo Apostol measures approximately 50 feet long by 30 feet wide. The tunnels, particularly those under the church group, are believed to extend further to the north, east, and south.
"The Zapotecs believed the caves and the subterranean labyrinth under Mitla to be an entrance to the underworld, or Lyobaa," Marco Vigato, founder of the ARX Project, which is leading the search, explained to The Sun. "For this reason, Mitla was the center of the cult of Pitao Bezelao, the Zapotec god of death and the underworld, and was for centuries the cemetery of the Zapotec kings and high priests."
If these are the tunnels of legend, the Zapotec kings may lie within. Burgoa paints a picture of the royal burial chamber in his 1674 text, Geografica Descripción. He says the kings are interred "richly dressed in their best attire" with "feathers, jewels, golden necklaces, and precious stones." Their bodies, meanwhile, hold "a shield in the left hand and a javelin in the right, just as they used them in war."