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Her face still haunts me five years later. I can still see the image of her crystal-encrusted skull with the jaw open, frozen in a silent scream. The rest of the skeleton was perfectly preserved in stone, arms askew above her head and legs spread apart. The preservation was so complete that you could make out the individual bones of the fingers. Above her head lay a beautifully carved jade axe. Was it used in her murder?

Who was she? Why was she there over a mile into a cave? What desperate conditions existed during her life that would lead to her sacrifice? My image was of the skeleton of a young Mayan girl in Actun Tunichil Muknal, Cave of the Stone Sepulture. We knew she was a teenage girl because of the bone structure of her skull and pelvis. Her age at death was determined by the growth areas of her femur that could still be seen. Associated artefacts in the cave placed her death during the Late Classic Period, around 800-900 A.D.

Recent archaeological investigations have revealed the importance of caves to the ancient Maya. The Mayans believed that to get to heaven you had to pass through the nine levels of the underworld. Strange rituals were conducted by kings and religious leaders in the caves of Belize. They believed that sacrifices in the underworld would bring their people better crops and rain.

Bruce I. Minkin, M.D., is a practicing hand surgeon from Asheville, North Carolina. He has been caving since he was 9 years old, and has been a member of the National Speleogical Society since 1960. When he was 16, the Mexican government of Campeche invited him to help excavate some Maya burial caves in the jungles of the Yucatán, starting him on a lifelong quest for adventure.

Bruce graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in physical anthropology, then attended medical school. Throughout his studies and practice, Bruce has continued his interest in the outdoors, and his passion for archaeology and caving led him to the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project in 1998. Even though he is not a professional archaeologist, he was accepted as a crew member because of his experience with vertical caving and anthropology. The next year he returned with his son Erik, who did his senior project on Maya cave archaeology.

Actun Tunichil Muknal was a major ceremonial site to the Maya. Mapping, documenting, and preserving the remains in the cave has been an on-going process by archaeologists for the last 6 years. The cave was named for the stone altar discovered over ½ mile into the cave. On a ledge forty feet above the underground river, an altar was constructed over 1000 years ago. Two slate stelae or monuments were placed upright within a grouping of broken-off cave formations. The four foot long stelae represented objects used in the bloodletting rituals, obsidian blades and stingray spines. In ancient Mayan times, the high priest would puncture a body part and let the blood drip onto a piece of bark inside a bowl. The bark would then be burned so that the smoke would rise to the heavens as homage to the gods. The objects of this ceremony were found scattered around the altar, obsidian blades, elaborately decorated bowls, and faces carved into slate slabs.

A mile further into the cave, you crawl through a small crevice that opens into a huge chamber over three football fields in length and one hundred feet in height. The entire floor of the room is covered in sparkling white flowstone. You take off your shoes so that you don't soil the crystalline floor or crush artefacts. Everywhere you look there are pottery vessels, human bone and artefacts embedded in the floor. Whole skulls are laying in the open, white calcite covering the face like a sugar coating. A jade axe is wedged into a crack in the wall. The tiny bones of an infant's skeleton lay on a ledge. Large boulders have holes carved into the sides to represent human skulls. Ollas, or large storage jars, rest in-situ on the floor. Some are so big that you could crawl through them.

In the far reaches of the chamber, you climb vertically twenty feet up to an alcove. It is here that you gaze upon the girl's skeleton. You can't help but be mystified by the sight. Everyone quietly leaves the chamber, wondering what happened at this site a thousand years ago.

Actun Tunichil Muknal is now open to the adventurous public. This wondrous underground archaeological site is now a living museum. The human remains and artefacts would not have as much importance if removed to a display cabinet. By seeing these objects in their original context, the ecotourist can appreciate what it meant to the ancient Maya.

You must have a certified guide to lead you into the cave, not only to protect you from dangers but also to preserve the delicate cave formations and artefacts. It is not a trip for the weak-at-heart. It is over an hour hike through the jungle to get to the entrance. Exploring inside involves swimming, climbing, crawling, and slithering over a mile into the cave. But the effort is worth it when you see her face. It conjures up the mystery of the Maya that you'll never forget.