Sistema Sac Actun (from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Yucatec Maya Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...

meaning "White Cave System") is an underwater cave system situated along the Caribbean coast of the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

with passages to the north and west of the city of

Tulum Tulum (, yua, Tulu'um) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Carib ...

. Discovery of a connection to the

Sistema Dos Ojos Dos Ojos (from Spanish language, Spanish meaning "Two Eyes"; officially Sistema Dos Ojos) is part of a flooded cave system located north of Tulum, on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The explorat ...

in 2018 made it the longest known underwater cave system. The remains of a

mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

and a human female that might be the oldest evidence of

human habitation Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...

in this area to date have been found in the cave.

History of exploration

Exploration started from ''Gran

Cenote A cenote ( or ; ) is a natural pit cave, pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly ...

'' west of Tulum. The whole of the explored cave system lies within the

Municipality of Tulum Tulum Municipality ( es, Municipio de Tulum, ) is one of the eleven municipalities that make up the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It became a municipality when it was formed on 13 March 2008, at which time it was separated from Solidaridad Mun ...

(state of

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...

). In early 2007, the underwater cave Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich was connected into and subsumed into Sac Actun making it the longest surveyed underwater cave system in the world. Sac Actun measured (after connecting ''Sistema Aktun Hu'' with in January 2011) and is as of May 2017 with an explored length of only surpassed by

Sistema Ox Bel Ha Sistema Ox Bel Ha (from Mayan meaning "Three Paths of Water"; short Ox Bel Ha) is a cave system in Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is the 2nd longest explored underwater cave in the world and ranks fourth including dry caves. As of January 2022 the surv ...

at . Since early 2007, these two caves frequently exchanged the title of the longest Quintana Roo Speleological Survey underwater cave system in the world. Including connected dry caves makes Sistema Sac Actun with the longest cave in Mexico and the second longest worldwide. In 2018, the discovery of a link between the Sac Actun system (reported to be 263 km long) and the Dos Ojos system in Tulum, Quintana Roo (84 km long) was reported. The connection was found by the Gran Maya Aquifer Project (GAM), led by the cave diver and explorer, Robbie Schmittner. The combined system is reported to be the world's longest underwater cave system known.

Upper Paleolithic remains

In March 2008, three members of the ''Proyecto Espeleológico de Tulum'' and

Global Underwater Explorers Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is a scuba diving organization that provides education within recreational, technical, and cave diving. It is a nonprofit membership organization based in High Springs, Florida, United States. GUE was formed ...

dive team, Alex Alvarez, Franco Attolini, and Alberto Nava, explored a section of ''Sistema Aktun Hu'' known as the pit ''Hoyo Negro''. At a depth of the divers located the remains of a

, as well as at a

human skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

that might be the oldest evidence of

in this area. Additional bones were located and the skeleton was later identified as that of a teenage female now referred to as Naia.

References

* Steve Gerrard (2000). ''The Cenotes of the Riviera Maya''. .
online Version
'. Retrieved January 14, 2011. {{Recreational dive sites, cavsit Sac Actun Caves of Mexico Landforms of Quintana Roo Limestone caves Sinkholes of Mexico Tulum (municipality) Natural history of Quintana Roo Paleoanthropological sites Underwater diving sites in Mexico First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites

History of exploration

Upper Paleolithic remains

See also

References