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Mexican robot films ancient passageway
Source: Agencies |
November 12, 2010, Friday
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THE first robotic exploration of a pre-Hispanic ruin in Mexico has revealed that a 2,000-year-old tunnel under a temple at the famed Teotihuacan ruins has a perfectly carved arch roof and appears stable enough to enter, archaeologists announced Wednesday.
Archaeologists lowered the remote-controlled, camera-equipped vehicle into the 4m-wide corridor and it was sent wheeling through to see if it was safe for researchers to enter. The 30 centimeter wide robot was called "Tlaloque 1" after the Aztec rain god.
The grainy footage shot by the robot was presented Wednesday by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. It shows a narrow, open space left after the tunnel was intentionally closed off between AD 200 and 250 and filled with debris nearly to the roof.
Archaeologist Sergio Gomez says the footage showed the arched-roof tunnel was an example of sophisticated work by the ancient inhabitants of Teotihuacan, which is located just north of modern Mexico City.
"All of the passage, more than 100 meter long was excavated in the rock perfectly, and in some places you can even see the marks of the tools the people of Teotihuacan used to make it," said Gomez.
Well-worked blocks and a smoothly arched ceiling showed the tunnel was not natural, but rather a man-made structure that researchers believe lead to possible burial chambers.
Researchers hope to clear the debris blocking the tunnel's mouth and enter the passageway later this month or early next month.
Robots have been used before in Egypt. In 2002, a robotic vehicle was used to discover a hidden door and chamber in the Great Pyramid built by the pharaoh Khufu more than 4,000 years ago.
But the INAH, as Mexico's archaeology agency is known, said it appeared to be the first robotic exploration in Mexico and probably in the Americas.
After excavating a vertical shaft that leads to the tunnel entrance, the mouth of the passageway was discovered in July.
Ground-penetrating scanner images showed that the passageway lies 12 meters below the surface, and runs beneath the Temple of Quetzacoatl, in the central ceremonial area of the ruins.
The complex of pyramids, plazas, temples and avenues was once the center of a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants and may have been the largest and most influential city in pre-Hispanic North America at the time.
Archaeologists lowered the remote-controlled, camera-equipped vehicle into the 4m-wide corridor and it was sent wheeling through to see if it was safe for researchers to enter. The 30 centimeter wide robot was called "Tlaloque 1" after the Aztec rain god.
The grainy footage shot by the robot was presented Wednesday by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. It shows a narrow, open space left after the tunnel was intentionally closed off between AD 200 and 250 and filled with debris nearly to the roof.
Archaeologist Sergio Gomez says the footage showed the arched-roof tunnel was an example of sophisticated work by the ancient inhabitants of Teotihuacan, which is located just north of modern Mexico City.
"All of the passage, more than 100 meter long was excavated in the rock perfectly, and in some places you can even see the marks of the tools the people of Teotihuacan used to make it," said Gomez.
Well-worked blocks and a smoothly arched ceiling showed the tunnel was not natural, but rather a man-made structure that researchers believe lead to possible burial chambers.
Researchers hope to clear the debris blocking the tunnel's mouth and enter the passageway later this month or early next month.
Robots have been used before in Egypt. In 2002, a robotic vehicle was used to discover a hidden door and chamber in the Great Pyramid built by the pharaoh Khufu more than 4,000 years ago.
But the INAH, as Mexico's archaeology agency is known, said it appeared to be the first robotic exploration in Mexico and probably in the Americas.
After excavating a vertical shaft that leads to the tunnel entrance, the mouth of the passageway was discovered in July.
Ground-penetrating scanner images showed that the passageway lies 12 meters below the surface, and runs beneath the Temple of Quetzacoatl, in the central ceremonial area of the ruins.
The complex of pyramids, plazas, temples and avenues was once the center of a city of more than 100,000 inhabitants and may have been the largest and most influential city in pre-Hispanic North America at the time.
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