Scientists from Mexico and the United States will resume a project to discover what is under the substructure of the Kukulcán Castle, located in the archaeological zone of Chichén Itzá, in the Mexican southeast, thanks to the arrival of the country of the Muones detector technology that will allow “see” the heart of the structure.
“The detector or ‘tracer’ of Mones that was built in the United States is in Mexico, we already assembled it, we tried, adaptations and we will soon carry out a final test,” Arturo Alejandro Menchaca Rocha, a researcher at the Institute of Physics at UNAM, told Efe.
The detector, which is a device designed to identify and measure the trajectory of the muons, subatomic particles similar to electrons, will draw an image of the internal density pattern of the substructure, similar to an radiography.
The objective of the study led by Edmundo García Solís, researcher at the Chicago State University and who began the project in Yucatan for more than two years, “is the application of physics to archeology.”
According to the expert, a group of researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) suspects that under the substructure, discovered in 1931, there is another smaller pyramid.
“They believe that Kukulcán Castle is like a Russian doll that inside has two smaller ones and we will discover it,” said García Solís.
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Other archaeologists consider that within the second substructure they could find the tomb of Kukulcán-Quetzalcóatl.
On the detector, which will transfer to the archaeological zone of Chichen Itzá this August, the director of the research reported that they will soon perform a final test “in one of the without windows that are in the Institute of Physics of the UNAM, inside which it has an accelerator”.
In 1931, in the first substructure, archaeologists found a huge carved stone box with offerings inside, a jaguar throne with jade eyes and a chaacmol (pre -Hispanic sculpture).
“Before there was a job of the Institute of Engineering of the UNAM, it was many years ago with a technique that does not give images and it was concluded that under the substructure there is something, but now with our Muones detector that is like a camera we will ‘see’ the interior of the Kukulcán castle,” said García Solís.
For its part, Menchaca Rocha reported that, after the installation and commissioning of the detector -next August -it is expected to have results in at least six months.
“And if there is something under the substructure of the Kukulcán Castle, we will know thanks to the ‘tracer’ of Mones,” added the investigator of the UNAM and one of the pioneers in that field in Mexico and Latin America.
Although Menchaca did not specify the number of physicists from Mexico and the United States who will work from next August in the archaeological zone, he revealed that “young people will arrive to help us.”
Currently, UNAM and INAH staff build an iron base for the new device, at the foot of the eastern side of Chichen Itzá Castle.
It is estimated that the detector installation will begin on August 12 and not to affect tourism. The researchers will work before the site is opened to the public and after visiting hours.
With EFE information
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