A prehistoric human skeleton has been found in a flooded Mexican cave, with researchers believing it was likely placed there as part of a ritual.
Cave-diving archaeologist Octavio del Río discovered the skeleton, which is approximately 8,000 years old, in a sinkhole cave that was flooded during the last ice age about 26 feet (8 meters) below the surface.
It was found propped on a dune of sediments in an interior chamber, which “suggests that it was a funereal deposit where the body was placed intentionally, perhaps as part of a ritual practice,” he said.
It is the 11th such skeleton found in the caves over the last three decades between the tourist destinations of Tulum and Playa del Carmen.
