(Galveston)—It may be the most interesting region in the world and surely one of the most important—it has archaeological treasures, more than 40 new species of life, bones of extinct animals, exotic marine life and possibly organisms that could provide a cure for cancer—and much of it is so far underground that darkness is blacker than black.
Tom
Iliffe, a marine biologist at Texas A&M at Galveston, has most likely
explored more caves in more locations than anyone in the world.
Cave diver Tom Iliffe, professor of marine biology at Texas A&M University at Galveston, has just returned from exploring dozens of “cenotes,” huge sinkholes off the Yucatan Peninsula that are like no other places on earth.
There are so many of the cenotes in the region, perhaps as many as 10,000, that exploring them could take decades, Iliffe said, and most of them have never been visited by humans.
“This area is like no other,” said Iliffe, who has most likely explored more caves in more locations than anyone in the world, more than 2,000 in dozens of countries.
“These cenotes range from tiny little pools to huge underground rivers. Some are just a few feet deep while others; well we just don’t know how deep they really are. A fellow diver went down as far as 500 feet and still didn’t hit the bottom.”
Just a few miles from the popular resort area of Cancun, where tourists slap on suntan oil and bask on the beach, are underground nether regions where ancient Mayans held religious ceremonies. Iliffe discovered some caves that had obviously been “sealed” to separate the caves from other walled-off areas.
“It was likely a sacred place for the Mayans at least 1,000 years ago,” he said of the sealed caves.
“We have found ancient Mayan artifacts as well as evidence of humans and other ceremonial sacrifices in some underwater caves. The archaeological sites themselves are fascinating, not to mention the other things we observed.”
What Iliffe and his team of divers discovered could be of historic medical importance. Inside some of the cenotes, hundreds of feet below the tropical vegetation above, were types of sponges found nowhere else. Several types contain proven cancer-fighting agents.
“One of my cave diving colleagues is involved in the search for potential new drugs from natural sources, and he said the most potent of these sponges are the ones that live in the deepest regions of the caves,” Iliffe said. “So this area has some very exciting potential medical benefits.”
Also discovered: remains from prehistoric animals, including mastodons and other now-extinct species. Human remains dating from more than 10,000 years ago have also been discovered in some of the cenotes, Iliffe added.
The
10,000 “cenotes”—huge sinkholes off the Yucatan Peninsula—are
like no other places on earth, and most have not been explored by humans.
If that weren’t enough, at least 40 new species of marine life, most of them crustaceans, have recently been discovered in some of the caves. More new species almost certainly await discovery in the area, he believes.
“Most of these are cousins to shrimp and lobsters, but two new species of fish have also been found there,” Iliffe said.
“What is so startling is the clarity of the water. Even though you are deep underground, the water there has been filtered through layer after layer of limestone rock, meaning it is crystal clear. This is some of the clearest water on earth.”
Iliffe will return to the area this summer and so will some lucky students from Texas A&M at Galveston. He will teach a study abroad course about the marine ecosystems of the region and students will dive into cenotes and coral reefs for up and close and personal learning experiences.
“These cenotes are a totally new environment—a new world within our own world,” Iliffe said.
“We
have found things down there that no one knew existed. And we have only scratched
the surface down there. There is no telling what else is in the area that we
don’t know about. This is one of the most exciting, interesting places
on earth and there are years and years of work to be done there.” 