By Marita Adair

A robot went exploring  under the Temple of the Plumed Serpent.at the pre-Hispanic Teotihuacan  archaeological site outside Mexico City.  Instituto Nacional de Archeologia Historica (INAH) officials announced last week. It rolled into a tunnel where mankind has not trod for 1,800 years.

Looking more like a miniature moon buggy, it slipped, through a small hole in an entrance that had been sealed off with rubble almost to the ceiling all those years ago. During its outing  the four-wheeled robot snapped photos of  at least three chambers just begging to be explored. This is the first time a robot has been used for archeological purposes in Mexico. Ground penetrating radar revealed the existence of the tunnel.

Teotihuacan, so magnificent to see even today, roughly 1,900 years after its founding, continues to deliver new information, new discoveries, and more for us see and ponder. Perhaps as many as  250,000 people lived there. Its influence spread at least as far as Guatemala where a Teotihuacan-type city, Kaminaljuyu, flourished,  and to cultures all along its path. Teothihuacan-style pottery has been found as far south as Peru.It’s known that some of those cultures established neighborhoods at Teotihuacan.

Discovery of this tunnel and chambers promises to reveal something  about those early years. Perhaps even some idea of what the Teothihuacan people looked like. Despite decades of exploration, we still don’t know for sure who the founders were or what they looked like. http://tinyurl.com/2vv6pom