ANCIENT tunnels believed to be the entrance of a supposed underworld have been discovered in a centuries-old church.
Archaeologists found these mysterious passageways in a Mexican city creepily known for its association with the god of death.
A church in Mitla, a small town in the south of the country, was built by the Spanish in the 16th century after they wiped the ancient Zapotec city.
The Church of San Pablo Apostol was constructed on the remains of the old civilisation’s most sacred temple.
Mystery at the site started when a priest later wrote that “the back door of hell” lay under the city.
The holy man suggested there were huge caverns believed to be the entrance to the Zapotec underworld but previous excavations failed to find anything matching his description.
Archaeologists however recently discovered a series of chambers and tunnels beneath the city.
They used non-invasive techniques to probe five different sets of ruins: the church group, the arroyo group, the adobe group, the south group, and the group of the columns.
These methods included the use of ground penetrating radar.
This project found tunnels that penetrated deep beneath the earth.
The founder of the ARX Project, Marco Vigato, revealed the shocking extent of this underground tunnel and chamber system.
Vigato said: “Some of the tunnels and chambers extend to a considerable depth, in excess of 15 metres.
“In the case of the south group, they’re up to 30 metres deep – this is as far as the instruments can penetrate.
“One chamber under the Church of San Pablo Apostol measures approximately 15 metres long by 10 metres wide.”
Vigato revealed the true extent of the tunnel network is not yet known.
He added: “It is possible that the tunnels, particularly those under the church group, extend further to the north, east and south.”
Archaeologists added that this underground system could even be the resting place of the ancient Zapotec kings.
Vigato explained how this system led to the towns association with god of death Pitao Bezelao.
He said: “The Zapotecs believed the caves and the subterranean labyrinth under Mitla to be an entrance to the underworld, or Lyobaa.
“For this reason, Mitla was the centre of the cult of Pitao Bezelao, the Zapotec god of death and the underworld, and was for centuries the cemetery of the Zapotec kings and high priests.”
Experts have not been able to establish how old these underground networks are.
Vigato said: “They may have been created by the Zapotecs, or they could be much older.”
