The Underwater City of Guatemala
Samabaj, the first underwater ruins excavated in Guatemala, was discovered 12 years ago by a diver called, Roberto Samayoa. Roberto is a businessman and recreational diver who grew up near the lake where his grandmother told him legends of a sunken church. He dived for years at the lake , often looking for Mayan pottery. In 1996 he found this site with huge ceremonial stones. He named Samabaj but only in the past year have professional divers mapped the city with sonar technology and excavating the structures. Researchers believe this area, 50 feet below the lake's surface, was once an island until a catastrophic event, a volcanic eruption raised water levels. The rising lake drowned the buildings around 250 A.D. Scientist found intact ceramics that suggest that the people that lived there left in a hurry. They have found six ceremonial monuments and four altars and without doubt there are more, which means this was an extremely important place from a spiritual point of view. Under the lake also can be seen in places where the civilization that inhabited Samabaj had its recreation areas, home where children could play and the women make pottery.Excavating in the muddy, green water is challenging, with objects hard to see and buried under thousands of years of sediment. The exact location of the site is a closely guarded secret, since the archaeologists want to protect it from robbers who fish in the ruins for pottery to be sold, sometimes for thousands of dollars, on the black market.
By Pablo Solares
By Pablo Solares