Archaeologists may have found ruins of fabled entrance to Zapotec underworld

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2 years ago

July 6, 2023

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A gateway between the worlds of the living and the dead? — Archaeologists may have found ruins of fabled entrance to Zapotec underworld Spanish missionaries deemed Lyobaa to be a “back door to hell” and sealed all entrances.

Jennifer Ouellette – Jul 5, 2023 10:07 pm UTC reader comments 76 with An archaeological research expedition has uncovered evidence of a legendary subterranean labyrinth under the ruins of Mitla in Oaxaca, Mexico, believed by the ancient Zapotecs to be an entrance to the underworld they called Lyobaa.

In 1674, a priest named Francisco de Burgoa published his account of visiting the ruins of the Zapotec city of Mitla in what is now Oaxaca in southern Mexico. He described a vast underground temple with four interconnected chambers, the last of which featured a stone door leading into a deep cavern. The Zapotec believed this to be the entrance to the underworld known as Lyobaa (“place of rest”). Burgoa claimed that Spanish missionaries who explored the ruins sealed all entrances to the temple, and local lore has long held that the entrance lies under the main altar of a Catholic church built over the ruins.

An international team of archaeologists recently announced that they found evidence for this fabled underground labyrinth under the ruinsright where the legends said it should beafter conducting scans of the site using ground penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and seismic noise tomography (SNT). The team also found evidence of an earlier construction stage of a palace located in another part of the site.

Mitla is one of the most significant archaeological sites in Oaxaca Valley. It was an important religious center, serving as a sacred burial sitehence its name, which derives from Mictlan (“place of the dead” or “underworld”). The unique structures at Mitla feature impressively intricate mosaics and geometric designs on all the tombs, panels, friezes, and walls, made with small polished stone pieces fitted together without using mortar. Enlarge / Title page of Father Burgoas Geographica Descripcin (1674).ARX Project

Spanish soldiers and Christian missionaries began arriving in the valley in the 1520s, and several mentioned the ruins of Mitla in their accounts. Naturally, they interpreted the underground temple as a site for an “evil spirit” and its “demoniacal servants.” Burgoa’s writing is the most descriptive, detailing how the Zapotec high priest used the palace of the living and the dead. He marveled at the mosaics and skilled construction of the site. And he specifically mentioned four chambers above the ground and four chambers below the ground. Advertisement

Per Burgoa, the first underground chamber served as a chapel; the second was where the high priests were buried; the third was where the kings were buried, along with their luxurious worldly goods; and the fourth featured a door at the rear which purportedly led to “a dark and gruesome room.” A stone slab covered the entrance. “Through this door they threw the bodies of the victims of the great lords and chieftains who had fallen in battle,” Burgoa wrote. It seems that certain “zealous prelates” decided to explore the underground structures, carrying lighted torches and using ropes as guides to ensure they didn’t get lost. They encountered “putrefaction,” foul odors, and “poisonous reptiles,” among other horrors.

Once back above ground, the explorers walled up what they considered to be a “back door to hell.” An archbishop ordered Mitla destroyed in 1553, and the stone blocks and other rubble were used to build various Spanish Catholic churches, most notably the Church of San Pablo, built right on top of part of the ruins. Several modern explorers subsequently found their way to the ruins at Mitla between 1834 and 1960. Various small underground chambers were discovered during those and later excavations, but nothing that matched Bergoa’s description of a vast labyrinthine network of large connected chambers. Still, the legend persisted. Page: 1 2 Next → reader comments 76 with Jennifer Ouellette Jennifer is a senior reporter at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars

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Trump ‘very disappointed’ in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to ‘sit down and sign a deal’

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April 28, 2025

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Trump 'very disappointed' in Russian strikes on Ukraine and calls for Putin to 'sit down and sign a deal'

Donald Trump has said he’s “very disappointed” with Russia as he continues to push for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

On Saturday, the US president met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican for their first face-to-face meeting since their explosive White House summit.

The Ukrainian president said the meeting ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral could end up being “historic.” Hours later, Mr Trump questioned Vladimir Putin’s appetite for peace in a Truth Social post.

Speaking before boarding Air Force One on Sunday, Mr Trump again said the meeting went well, and that the Ukrainian leader was “calmer”.

“I think he understands the picture, I think he wants to make a deal,” he said, before turning to Mr Putin and Russia.

“I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal,” the US president said, adding he was “very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places (including Kyiv, where nine people were killed in a Russian airstrike on Friday) after discussions”.

However, Mr Trump said he thinks Mr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, which the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said he would refuse to do.

He added that “we’ll see what happens in the next few days” and said “don’t talk to me about Crimea, talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea”.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, while Barack Obama was president.

Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Sky’s US partner network NBC News that a peace deal to end the war was “closer in general than they’ve been any time in the last three years, but it’s still not there”.

“If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago,” he added on the Meet the Press show.

It comes after North Korea confirmed it had deployed troops to fight for Russia, months after Ukraine and Western officials said its forces were in Europe.

State media outlet KCNA reported North Korean soldiers made an “important contribution” to expelling Ukrainian forces from Russian territory, likely to be the Kursk region.

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KCNA said leader Kim Jong Un made the decision to deploy troops to Russia and notified Moscow, and quoted him as saying: “They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.”

It also quoted the country’s ruling Workers’ Party as saying the end of the battle to liberate Kursk showed the “highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship” between North Korea and Russia.

Last June, Mr Kim and Mr Putin signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty after a state visit – his first to the country in 24 years.

The North Korean leader promised at the time “full support and solidarity to the Russian government, army and people in carrying out the special military operation in Ukraine”.

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40 killed in blast at Iran’s biggest port as Tehran denies explosion ‘linked to fuel for missiles’

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April 28, 2025

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40 killed in blast at Iran's biggest port as Tehran denies explosion 'linked to fuel for missiles'

At least 40 people have been killed and several hundred more injured after an explosion and fire at Iran’s largest port, according to state media.

The blast, at the Shahid Rajaei container hub near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, happened on Saturday as Iran held a third round of talks with the US in Oman about Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Shipping containers burned, goods inside were badly damaged and the explosion was so powerful that windows several miles away were shattered, reports said.

Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the blaze and by Sunday afternoon it was 90% extinguished, the head of Iran’s Red Crescent Society told state media.

Officials said port activities had resumed in unaffected parts of Shahid Rajaei.

Out of the 752 people who had received treatment for their injuries, 190 were still being treated in medical centres on Sunday, according to Iran’s crisis management organisation.

Chemicals at the port were suspected to have worsened the blast, but the exact cause of the explosion was not clear.

Iran’s defence ministry denied international media reports that the explosion may be connected to the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles.

The reports were “aligned with enemy psyops [psychological operations]”, according to a ministry spokesperson, who told state TV the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.

According to the Associated Press, British security company Ambrey said that the port in March received sodium perchlorate, which is used to propel ballistic missiles and the mishandling of which could have led to the explosion.

The Financial Times previously reported two Iranian vessels had shipped from China enough of the ingredient to propel up to 260 mid-range missiles.

It was reportedly to help Tehran replenish stocks after its missile attacks on Israel in 2024.

Iran’s military has sought to deny the delivery of sodium perchlorate from China.

Iran’s state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide help.

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Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis’s tomb to remember the late pontiff

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April 28, 2025

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Pilgrims travel to Pope Francis's tomb to remember the late pontiff

Anna and Irene have already been queuing for an hour or so, and they know they have a long wait still to come.

“Two hours, three hours, ten hours – what does it matter?” says Irena. “This is about eternity.”

They have come to Rome from Slovenia, Catholics who felt “Papa Francis would have wanted us to be here”.

And under the sun outside Santa Maria Maggiore, they are awaiting the opportunity to visit his tomb.

Francis, says Irena, “was like a rainbow” who lit up the world. Anna nods along: “We are so happy to be here.”

The Pope’s tomb has become a new source of pilgrimage.

More than 30,000 people came to view it during the first morning after the Pope’s funeral, the queue snaking from the front of the mighty basilica and then up and down across the square at the back.

Some were curious visitors, others were devout followers – priests and nuns mixing in the queue with tourists and devoted locals.

All of these admired Francis; a very few actually knew him.

Father Alessandro Masseroni is a deacon who came to Rome to train to become a priest. On his phone, he shows me a photo of him and Francis, with the Pope offering words of encouragement.

He says: “I had the honour to serve Pope Francis and to talk to him many times and it was a special experience. I understand why he was so loved by all the people – he was simple and direct.

“He was sunny. St Francis was his role model and when I saw the first picture of the Pope’s tomb, the first thing I thought was of the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.

“Pope Francis will leave a legacy – it doesn’t end with his death but will continue.”

What are your emotions now, as you wait to visit his tomb, I ask. Father Alessandro pauses and smiles.

“Many emotions of course, but mainly, I think… thankfulness.”

That has been a recurring aspect among so many of the people we have met in Rome over the past week – the sense that sadness for Francis’s death is outweighed by the sense that his was a life that should be celebrated.

Volodymyr Borysyak flew in from London on the morning of the Pope’s funeral to make his third pilgrimage to Rome.

Barely had he arrived than his phone was stolen, a crime he responded to by praying for the thief.

Volodymyr is a refugee from western Ukraine who worries that his home country’s plight is being forgotten by some of the world.

Now, the Pope who inspired him has died.

You might imagine that he would be resentful and angry. Instead, he is full of smiles.

“We are happy to be the pilgrims of the world and this is a special day,” he tells me. “I know the pope used to pray in this basilica so that is why we will stay so long here to visit Santa Maria Maggiore.

“I think Pope Francis was, is and will be the pope for the world, because of the mercy of his heart and his love for everybody.”