Mayan funerary offering found in Mexico

The funerary offering consists of six human bones as well as ceramic objects, jade and shell beads, flint knives and animal bones.

"According to experts, the offering was made as a rain-invoking ritual in the 9th and 10th centuries, when the Maya had suffered two periods of drought," Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in a statement.

The objects were found "carefully and selectively placed" at the bottom of a flooded cave that is linked by a 25-meter-long tunnel to a sinkhole cave or 'cenote' near the Kukulkan pyramid, INAH said.

Experts say the skeletal remains belong to at least six individuals - "probably sacrificed during a couple of intense periods of water shortages between 900-1,200 years ago."

Archeologists found remains of another 20 individuals and more than 100 animal bones at a depth of about 50 meters at the bottom of the cenote.

Ceramic objects and sculptures were also found, "most notably one of a standard bearer with features similar to (that of) a jaguar," INAH said.

The Yucatan Peninsula also yielded a figure with "goggled eyes, similar to the faces that appear on the Tlaloc-type vessels" found at the Balankanche network of sacred caves.

According to INAH, the discoveries recall the finds made at Chichen Itza's Sacred Cenote, which is known as the region's most important archeological findings.

Marine archaeologist Guillermo de Anda says the funerary offerings found in five cenotes in the Yucatan - are indicative of "a ceremonial practice (that has been) recently identified and is under study."

He added that the people whose remains were discovered "were not thrown from the surface, but instead were placed along the walls of the cenote."