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Actun Tunichil Muknal (also known as "ATM cave" in Belize)

Actun Tunichil Muknal (Mayan for "cave of the stone sepulcher") is a very special asset to Belize, offereing one of the most profound experiences available to tourists in Belize's Mayan underworld. This cave is most famous for the extraordinary number of artifacts that remain untouched in their original state. This includes over 1400 documented artifacts, such as pottery shards, pots of many different sizes, water vessels, as well as numerous tools and weapons used by the maya people in what is suspected to be a blood-letting center to apeas the gods in times of strife. The cave also includes a stone altar made of stalactites and a slate carved stingray spine as its centerpiece, which is where the cave get's is name. Further into the cave, we find remains of suspected sacrificial victims, and a grotto where we find arifacts seemingly stewn about the cave floor. Special guides, appointed by the Department of Archealogy lead us through a trail of intrigue, past pots, shards, bone fragments, and many other artifacts.

The most famous artifact in Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) being the "crystal maiden", which is a calcified skeleton that was one of many victims sacrificed to appease the gods, and to bring the onset of rain in a time of drought. The skeleton has been "cemented" into the ground by hundreds of years of water running over the remains, causing a crystaline coating to form over the bones. The "crystal maiden" is found near the head of the cave, accessed by ladder placed by the Department of Archeology. In fact, 14 remains were found in the cave system; 7 adults and 7 children under the age of 5. The cave also houses numerous pots, and pot shards that remain of food sacrifices. Some are but small fragments, and some pots remain largely in tact. One of the pots is decorated with a monkey that is decorated close to the pot's rim. An obsidian blade, made of flint can also be found on one of the shelves overlooking the burial chamber, which may have been used in some of the blood-letting ceremonies. There are evidence of bodies bound and tortured, but all that remains of these grewsome scenes today are bone fragments, and piles.

Dating the artifacts, it is suspected the cave saw use from 0-1000 AD, with most of its use during the Terminal-Classic period (800-1000AD), which has been proven as a difficult time of drought. Discovered in 1989, this cave has remained untouched for approximately 1000 years, and has only been open to the public since 1998.

Actun cave system is located on the edge of the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve, and is approximately 30 minute drive from Roaring Creek Village on the Western Highway in Belize. Accessible only by guides licenced by the Department of Archeaology in Belize, the cave is aproached by a 45 minute trek through the jungle and by fording the Roaring Creek River. At the foot of the cave, an old research camp exists, where travellers typically are served lunch before entering the cool water at the cave's hour-glass shaped entrance. To enter the cave, explorers must swim approximately 10 meters to the first rock, and the remainder of the cave follows a subterranian creek bed, where water levels range from ankle deep to areas that you need to swim through.

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