While exploring a remote mountain cave in Mexico, a spelunker stumbled upon what she first assumed was modern litter. But a closer look revealed something far more remarkable — a hidden collection of ancient artifacts likely used in fertility rituals more than 500 years ago.
“I peeked in and saw the cave continued. You had to hold your breath and dive a little to get through,” said speleologist Katiya Pavlova in a translated statement. “That’s when we saw two rings around the stalagmites.”
The cave, known as Tlayócoc — meaning “Cave of Badgers” in the Indigenous Nahuatl language — is located in Guerrero state, about 7,800 feet (2,380 meters) above sea level. Though known locally as a water source and bat guano site, it hadn’t been entered in what could be five centuries — until Pavlova and local guide Adrián Beltrán Dimas explored it in September 2023.
Roughly 500 feet (150 meters) into the cave, the ceiling narrowed sharply, leaving only a six-inch (15 cm) gap between water and rock. “Adrián was scared, but I went through first to show him it wasn’t too hard,” Pavlova said.
Deeper inside, they discovered 14 mysterious artifacts carefully arranged.
“It was amazing — truly unbelievable,” Pavlova said. “We were lucky.”
Among the items were four shell bracelets, a large decorated snail shell (from the genus Strombus), two complete stone disks, six disk fragments, and a charred piece of wood. The bracelets had been placed over rounded stalagmites, which archaeologists believe symbolized male fertility.
Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) was called in, and a team recovered the artifacts in March.
“For pre-Hispanic cultures, caves were sacred spaces,” said INAH archaeologist Miguel Pérez Negrete. “They symbolized the underworld and were seen as the womb of the Earth.”
Three of the bracelets feature engraved designs, including the xonecuilli, an S-shaped symbol linked to the planet Venus and timekeeping, and the profile of a human-like figure thought to represent the god Quetzalcoatl, a key creator deity.
The artifacts have been dated to the Postclassic period (A.D. 950–1521) and are believed to have been made by the Tlacotepehua, a little-known Indigenous culture that once lived in the region.
Thanks to the stable humidity deep within the cave, the fragile artifacts were remarkably well-preserved after centuries underground, said Pérez.
