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SECRETS OF THE MAYA The study of caves and wells in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is shining new light on the beliefs of the ancient and modern Maya. From deep in a well near the ruins of the Maya city of Chichén Itzá, archeoastronomer Arturo Montero shouts to his colleague on the surface, "I saw it, I saw it! Yes, it's true!" Leaning over the mouth of the well, archeologist Guillermo de Anda hopes to hear what he has suspected for many months. "What is true, Arturo?" he shouts. And Montero yells up again, "The zenith light, it really works! Get down here!" The two archeologists are anxious to confirm whether this cenote could have acted as a sacred sundial and timekeeper for the ancient Maya. On two days every year—May 23 and July 19— the sun reaches its zenith over this part of Mexico. At those moments, the sun is vertically overhead and there is no shadow. On the morning of their descent, on May 24, Montero and de Anda see that the sun's rays are nearly vertical. The day before, they realized, a beam of light would have plunged straight down into the water. Beneath its narrow mouth, the walls of the cenote open up to become a giant dome. It looks like a cathedral, except for the roots of trees that penetrate the rock. The beam of sunlight dances like fire on the surrounding stalactites, and it turns the water a beautiful transparent blue. The archeologists were probably the first people in centuries to watch the sun move slowly across the cenote's water.

玛雅的秘密 墨西哥尤卡坦半岛洞穴和井的研究 为古代和现代玛雅人的信仰带来了新的启示。 从玛雅城市奇琴伊察废墟附近的一口井深处， 古天文学家阿图罗·蒙特罗对地面上的同事大喊， “我看到了，我看到了！是的，这是真的！” 俯身在井口， 考古学家吉列尔莫·德·安达希望听到他几个月来一直怀疑的事情。 “什么是真的，阿图罗？”他喊道。 蒙特罗再次大喊：“天顶光，真的有效！快下来！” 这两位考古学家急于确认这个遗址是否 本可以作为古代玛雅人的神圣日晷和计时器。 每年5月23日和7月19日-- 太阳在墨西哥的这一地区达到最高点。 在那些时刻，太阳是垂直的，没有阴影。 5月24日，在他们下山的早晨， 蒙特罗和德安达发现太阳光线几乎是垂直的。 他们意识到，前一天，一束光会直射到水中。 在它狭窄的口下，灰岩的墙壁打开，变成了一个巨大的圆顶。 它看起来像一座大教堂，除了穿透岩石的树根。 阳光如火焰般在周围的钟乳石上舞动， 它把水变成了美丽透明的蓝色。 考古学家可能是几个世纪以来的第一批人 看着太阳慢慢地穿过石灰岩的水面。

Did Maya priests wait in this well—known as the Holtún cenote— to observe and correct their measurements of the sun's angle when it reached the zenith? Did they come here during times of drought to make offerings to their water god, and at other times to give thanks for a good harvest? These and other questions involving the Maya religion and its extraordinarily accurate calendar are what the two explorers were investigating. In recent years, archeologists have been paying more attention to the meaning of caves, the zenith sun, and cenotes in the beliefs of the ancient and modern Maya. Archeologists already knew that the ancient Maya believed cenotes to be doors to a world inhabited by Chaak, the god of life-giving rain, but the significance of this fact has only recently started to become clear. De Anda began exploring Holtún in 2010. One day, inspecting the walls of the cenote a few meters below the surface, he felt something above his head. He was astonished to find a natural rock shelf holding human and animal bones, pottery, and a knife—probably used for sacrifices—all neatly placed there centuries earlier. Below the water, he saw a number of columns and Maya stone carvings— the well was clearly a sacred site. Key to Survival Three years later, in the cornfield on the surface above the cenote, a crew of Maya farmers is working hard in the grueling Yucatán heat to pull the explorers out of the well. "There was a good rain the other day," says the crew's leader, Louis Un Ken, as he wipes the sweat off his face. "The Chaak moved." For men like Un Ken, the old gods are still very much alive, and Chaak is among the most important. For the benefit of living things, he pours from the skies the water he keeps in jars. Thunder is the sound of Chaak breaking a jar open and letting the rain fall. The Chaak had moved, Un Ken said, and that meant the planting season would soon arrive. Chaak's absence can cause disasters for the Yucatán Maya, possibly the demise of the ancient Maya civilization itself. Their land is an endless limestone shelf. Rain sinks through the porous limestone down to groundwater levels, and consequently no river runs through the land. From the air, one sees a green sea of dense jungle, but at ground level, the tropical forest appears very thin. Wherever there is enough soil, the Maya plant corn or a milpa, a crop-growing system including the corn, beans, and squash that constitutes their basic source of protein. But corn is a hungry crop; it sucks lots of nutrients from the soil. For thousands of years, milpa farmers have kept their small fields productive by burning a different area of trees every year and planting in the com-friendly ashes. As for water for the fields, that's where Chaak comes in. Only seasonal rains can make the corn grow, and they must arrive in an exact pattern: no rain in winter so that the fields and forest will be dry enough to bun by March; some rain in early May to soften up the soil for planting; then very gentle rain to allow the seeds to begin to grow; and finally, plenty of rain so the corn can flourish. Pleasing the Rain God In the village of Yaxuná, many people still depend on milpa, and an annual ceremony is held there to please the rain god. They walk along way through the forest to a sacred cave and climb down to its center to bring up the water the ceremony requires. They raise the altar, diga large cooking pit, and provide 13 fat chickens for the ritual meal. They cook them in the pit so the steam can rise directly to the rain god as an offering. One recent such ceremony in Yaxuná was guided by Hipólito Puuc Tamay, a Maya holy man called a hmem. He stood in front of an altar praying for the holy blessing of rain. On instructions from the hmem, one of the villagers sat on a rock near the altar, blowing from time to time into one of the gourds in which Chaak stores the wind. He was just one of the neighbors, but he was also the rain god, and he sat with his eyes closed so as not to harm the ceremony with his terrible glance. Two other participants brought him to the altar, facing backward, to receive a blessing from the hmem. Out of nowhere, a wind came up, and thunder could be heard in the distance. As the ceremonial meal was being distributed, the rain started— a sign, the hmem said, that Chaak had received his offering and was pleased with his people's prayer. Soon, perhaps, the earth would be ready for planting.

玛雅祭司在这个被称为霍尔顿中心的地方等着吗-- 观察并校正他们在太阳到达天顶时对太阳角度的测量？ 他们在干旱的时候来到这里，向他们的水神献祭吗， 在其他时候感谢丰收？ 这些和其他涉及玛雅宗教的问题 两位探险家正在调查的是它异常精确的日历。 近年来，考古学家越来越关注洞穴的意义， 天顶太阳，以及古代和现代玛雅人信仰中的cenotes。 考古学家已经知道古玛雅人相信cenotes 成为Chaak居住的世界的大门，Chaak是赐予生命的雨之神， 但这一事实的意义直到最近才开始变得清晰。 德安达于2010年开始探索霍尔顿。 有一天，在地表以下几米处检查墓室的墙壁时， 他觉得头顶上有什么东西。 他惊讶地发现，一个天然的岩石架上放着人类和动物的骨头、陶器、， 还有一把刀——可能是用来祭祀的——几个世纪前就整齐地放在那里了。 在水下，他看到了许多柱子和玛雅石雕-- 这口井显然是一个圣地。 生存的关键 三年后，在灰岩上方的玉米地里， 一群玛雅农民在尤卡坦州的酷热中辛勤工作 把探险者从井里拉出来。 “前几天下了一场大雨，”机组组长Louis Un-Ken说， 他擦去脸上的汗水。“Chaak动了。” 对于像Un Ken这样的人来说，旧神仍然非常活跃， Chaak是其中最重要的。 为了生物的利益，他从天上倒出装在罐子里的水。 雷声是恰克打破罐子，让雨落下的声音。 Un-Ken说，Chaak已经搬走了，这意味着种植季节很快就会到来。 查克的缺席可能会给尤卡坦玛雅人带来灾难， 可能是古代玛雅文明本身的灭亡。 他们的土地是一片无边无际的石灰岩大陆架。 雨水通过多孔石灰岩下沉到地下水位， 因此，没有河流穿过这片土地。 从空中，人们可以看到一片茂密的丛林， 但在地面上，热带森林显得非常稀疏。 只要有足够的土壤，玛雅人就会种玉米或米帕， 包括玉米、豆类、玉米和玉米的作物生长系统， 南瓜是它们的基本蛋白质来源。 但玉米是一种饥饿的作物；它从土壤中吸收了大量的营养。 几千年来，米帕农民一直保持着他们的小田地高产 每年焚烧不同面积的树木，并在友好的灰烬中种植。 至于田地里的水，Chaak就来了。 只有季节性降雨才能使玉米生长，而且它们必须以精确的模式到达： 冬天不下雨，这样到三月，田野和森林就会干燥到可以结面包的程度； 5月初下了一些雨，以软化土壤，便于种植； 然后是非常温和的雨，让种子开始生长； 最后，雨水充足，玉米才能茁壮成长。 取悦雨神 在雅迅那村，许多人仍然依赖米帕， 每年都会在那里举行仪式来取悦雨神。 他们一路穿过森林，来到一个神圣的洞穴 然后爬到它的中心，把仪式所需的水端上来。 他们竖起祭坛，挖了一个大的烹饪坑，并为仪式餐提供了13只肥鸡。 他们在坑里煮，这样蒸汽就可以直接升到雨神面前作为祭品。 最近在雅迅那举行的一次这样的仪式是由希波利托·普uc·塔迈指导的， 一个叫hmem的玛雅圣人。 他站在祭坛前，祈求雨的神圣祝福。 奉耶和华的吩咐，一个村民坐在祭坛旁的石头上， 不时地吹进Chaak储存风的葫芦里。 他只是邻居之一，但他也是雨神， 他闭着眼睛坐着，以免用可怕的眼神伤害仪式。 另外两名参与者把他带到祭坛前， 面朝后，接受来自hmem的祝福。 不知从哪里冒出一阵风，远处传来雷声。 在分发仪式餐时，雨开始下了-- hmem说，这是一个迹象，表明Chaak已经收到了他的祭品，并对他的人民的祈祷感到满意。 也许很快，地球就可以播种了。

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