The Sacred Cenote (Spanish: cenote sagrado, Latin American Spanish: [ˌsenote saˈɣɾaðo], "sacred well"; alternatively known as the "Well of Sacrifice") is a water-filled sinkhole in limestone at the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in the northern Yucatán Peninsula. It is located to the north of Chichen Itza's civic precinct, to which it is connected by a 300-metre (980 ft) sacbe, a raised pathway.[1]
According to both Maya and Spanish post-Conquest sources, pre-Columbian Maya deposited valuables and human bodies into the cenote as a form of sacrifice to the rain god Chaac.
Edward Herbert Thompson dredged the Cenote Sagrado from 1904 to 1910, and recovered artifacts of gold, jade, pottery, and incense, as well as human remains.[2] Beginning in the 1950s several Mexican-driven projects were conducted in the cenote, including a 1961 project that used an airlift dredge.[3][4]
- ^ Adams (1991), p. 290
- ^ Coggins (1992)
- ^ Hurtado, Eusebio (October 1961). "Into the Well of Sacrifice I: Return to the Sacred Cenote". National Geographic.
- ^ Littlehales, Bates (October 1961). "Into the Well of Sacrifice II: Treasure Hunt in the Deep Past". National Geographic.