origins of the gods by erich von daniken

When read, these translated: “a god will guide the dead toward the underworld by submerging (them) into the water so they will be received there.” When archaeologists examined them, they found carvings on the stone. Though, no shaft has been found that connects Pakal’s tomb with the water tunnel, one strong link between the two has been identified.Īccording to Gonzalez, a pair of stone ear plugs were found interred as grave goods in Pakal’s burial chamber. Water was where life began and where it ended.Īrchaeologists began to wonder whether or not the tunnel was designed to carry the dead king’s soul to the afterlife through the conduit of a water current. The Maya believed strongly in the spiritual significance of water and water currents. In both tunnels, there was a water current. The covering matches the floor of Pakal’s tomb, according to Arnoldo Gonzalez, an archaeologist working on Pakal’s tomb in the Temple of Inscriptions.Ī similar tunnel was found at Teotihuacan, near Mexico City was found.

What they found wasn’t what they expected to find.īeneath the stone steps of the temple, they found three layers of stone that had been carefully fit together to cover the top of a tunnel. They were afraid it that such a fault might cause the temple to eventually collapse, so they dug into the ground to see what was there. It seemed the pyramid was built on top of a fault or a hole. In 2012, researchers were examining the Temple of Inscriptions using geo-radar when they detected a troubling anomaly beneath the pyramid’s steps. However, this theory about what the coffin engraving is actually depicting stems from a basic misunderstanding about Mayan concepts about where the soul went when it died.

After all, the pyramids of ancient Egypt were believed to be stepping stones, paths to the sun for the spirit of the god-king to climb to paradise everlasting. Perhaps the king was believed to have ascended to the afterlife through the sky. Erich von Daniken believed the picture depicted Pakal seated at the controls of a spaceship-like contraption, surrounded by flames. On this sarcophagus is engraved a picture of the dead king. Pakal was entombed in a stone sarcophagus.

Origins of the gods by erich von daniken