In Mexico City, archaeologists exploring the world’s largest flooded cave have made significant discoveries: ancient human remains dating back at least 9,000 years and the remains of Ice Age animals. Recently, a team of divers connected two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico, unveiling what is believed to be the largest flooded cave globally. This remarkable find has the potential to illuminate new aspects of the ancient Maya civilization. The Yucatan peninsula, adorned with monumental remnants of the Maya, features a vast network of sinkholes called cenotes that were crucial to Maya cities. Researchers identified 248 cenotes within the 347-km (216-mile) Sac Actun cave system near Tulum, with approximately 200 archaeological sites found, including about 140 Mayan sites. Some cenotes held particular religious significance for the Maya, whose descendants still inhabit the region. Alongside human remains, the team unearthed bones of giant sloths, ancient elephants, and extinct bears from the Pleistocene era, according to Mexico’s Culture Ministry. This cave’s discovery has reverberated throughout the archaeological community. “I find it overwhelming. Undoubtedly, it’s the most significant underwater archaeological site globally,” remarked Guillermo de Anda, a researcher at Mexico’s National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH). De Anda also serves as director of the Gran Acuifero Maya (GAM), a project dedicated to studying and preserving the Yucatan peninsula’s subterranean waters. INAH reports that rising water levels at the end of the Ice Age, which flooded the cave system, created ideal conditions for preserving the remains of Pleistocene megafauna. The Pleistocene epoch, the most recent Ice Age, spanned from 2.6 million to about 11,700 years ago.