[Aztlan] Teotihuacan P. of Sun Tunnels

[kim Goldsmith]

Hey All, It's Me Again.........

I am going to eventually have my husband write a note here concerning his project.  Even though the press ran with the story, I believe he is still waiting for one final revision from the Consejo.

In the meantime, let me try to clarify what I know about the cave/tunnel situation, now that John and Mike have brought up a few subjects:

1) There is a tunnel that was made in I'm-not-sure-what year by archaeologists so as to check the stratigraphy of the pyramid.  It goes in starting at about base level, and can be seen by tourists as being doorway-shaped, going straight in and locked with a grate.

2)  The tunnel made by the Teotihuacanos is not visible to the naked eye.  If you were to stand right in front of the P. of the Sun and look down, there is a thin, metal "trap door" with a padlock on it - - that is the entrance.

The volcanic formation the tunnel is in is NOT a lava TUBE.....it is a lave TONGUE.  That's how we know it was manmade.  The way Linda's team explained it is that a lava TUBE is a consistant flow in which bubbles can form, and once cooled those bubbles become caves.  A lava TONGUE is where "spittage" from a live volcanoe comes out little by little over hundreds or even thousands of years, cooling practically in the air and then landing on the ground as one rock on top of another, with dust and dirt in between the pile-up.  There is not one single lava TONGUE in the entire world where a natural cave has been known to form, and Teo. is no exception to this rule.  The removal of rock from this type of formation is extremely easy, and only for the very largest chunks would you even need a lever.  The normal size of the rocks that make up the tunnel's "roof" and walls are aprox. the size of what you see them using in building on the surface at the site.

This tunnel does not go in a straight line.......almost, but not really.  It is kind of curvy at irregular intervals and goes nearly to the center of the pyramid, yet not all the way.  Along the route there is one spot that has two "wings" (one on the left and one on the right).  At the end there are 4 "chambers" that really don't go in more than a couple of meters each.  Some people say that this makes it look like a 4-petaled flower with its stem and leaves, but I personally hate that comparison.

As for its exploration, the tunnel was first noticed in the early '70s by some of the workers.  Jorge Acosta was in charge at the time and was the one who did the initial exploration, but unfortunately he passed away about a year later, so to my knowledge there are no formal reports from that time.

Doris Heydan was also a dear friend of ours and is sorely missed.  She wrote that water sprang from the cave.  I won't go into the reasons for the misconception here, but in reality the slope is such that water actually runs INTO the tunnel during the rainy season (that's how the workers found it - - they wondered where all the water was draining into).

3)  The muon detector was only supposed to be in there a year, but I think it has been in there about 3.  Don't quote me on this because I am not positive, but I think that the reports that they are supposed to be getting via remote control from the pyramid to the UNAM are not coming through like they expected.  Really, Dr. Manzanilla or someone else from the UNAM would have to give you the scoop on that.
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I hope all of that helps.  The tunnel is really important because it was initially thought by many investigators that the ancient city was built precisely where it was because of the presence of the "cave" and all the mythology that the Mesoamericans associated with it.  Now we know that, even though they may have put the tunnel there to fit some mythological pattern, that was not the true reason for the urbanization of that particular area.

Still in summer mode and waiting for company.................

KIM