Archaeologists discover 1,000-year-old 'untouched' Maya ritual site containing hundreds of ceramic vessels

Archaeologists have stumbled upon an 'untouched' ritual cave on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula that could hold the key to unraveling the fall of the Maya Empire.

At the ruins of the ancient city Chichen Itza, the team found roughly 200 ceramic vessels left as offerings more than 1,000 years ago, the Daily Mail reports.

Remarkably, they are thought to have remained undisturbed since.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History said the vessels appear to date back to around AD 1000 and contain bone fragments and burnt offering materials that are being analyzed.

Archaeologist Guillermo de Anda said exploration of the cave began in 2018 after local Maya residents told experts about it.

It turned out the cave had been discovered, but apparently not fully explored, by locals about 50 years earlier.

They told an archaeologist about it then, but he ordered it sealed - perhaps to protect it - and only issued a brief report that was essentially forgotten in government archives.

The 155 ceramic braziers and incense burners found by the experts bear the likeness of Tlaloc, the rain god of central Mexico.

The Mayas also had their own rain god, Chaac, and may have imported Tlaloc from other pre-Hispanic cultures.

There were also clay boxes and other vessels. The team plans to leave all the objects in the cave.