High in the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, a spelunker and her guide entered a narrow limestone cave they believed had remained untouched for centuries. What they found, nestled between stalagmites and buried in sediment, was not trash—though it seemed like it at first glance—but a tightly arranged collection of ancient artifacts left behind by a little-known Mesoamerican culture.
The discovery, made in September 2023 by Russian speleologist Ekaterina “Katiya” Pavlova and local guide Adrián Beltrán Dimas, took place in the cave of Tlayócoc, near the village of Carrizal de Bravo in the municipality of Leonardo Bravo. The site sits at an altitude of roughly 7,800 feet and had long been known to locals for its water supply and bat guano, but few had ventured into its most remote and claustrophobic chambers.
A Passage Sealed by Time and Terrain
The entrance to Tlayócoc offers two routes—one leading to an external stream and another climbing through jagged rock. Pavlova and Beltrán chose the latter, ascending a steep, narrow passage before arriving at a flooded tunnel. There, they encountered an opening only about 15 centimeters high above the waterline. Pavlova dove under first to demonstrate the passage was navigable. Her companion followed.
Roughly 30 meters beyond, in a chamber with a ceiling barely a meter tall, they found what appeared to be debris mistakenly assumed to be trash. Pavlova, who has spent six years mapping caves professionally, was at first irritated, assuming it was discarded plastic or metal. But on closer inspection, they realized they were looking at shell bracelets, a giant snail shell, and fragments of carved stone. “It was very exciting and incredible,” she later recalled. “We were lucky here.”
The two explorers immediately contacted the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), which sent a team of archaeologists to document the findings in March 2025. The objects were photographed, measured, and registered under the guidance of archaeologists Miguel Pérez Negrete and Cuauhtémoc Reyes Álvarez of INAH Guerrero, accompanied by historian and speleologist Guillermina Valente Ramírez of the Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero.
Artifacts and Ritual Symbolism
In total, 14 objects were recovered. These included four shell bracelets—three of them decorated—made possibly from Triplofusus giganteus, a giant marine snail. One of the most striking pieces was a large Strombus shell, marked with carved patterns and small perforations. Two complete stone disks and six disk fragments, similar to pyrite mirrors, were also documented. Alongside these was a piece of carbonized wood measuring approximately 3.2 by 3 centimeters.
Three bracelets bore incised designs. One showed a profile of a human-like figure, potentially a deity, while another featured the xonecuilli, an S-shaped motif linked to the planet Venus and the measurement of time. According to Pérez Negrete, the figure may depict Quetzalcóatl or Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, both associated in Mesoamerican mythology with the dawn and fertility.
The objects were found looped around small stalagmites that, according to the researchers, had “phallic connotations.” Their placement and orientation led the team to hypothesize that the cave served as a sacred space for fertility rites, a view consistent with Mesoamerican traditions linking caves to the underworld and the Earth’s womb.
Cultural Context and a Lost Community
The items have been dated to the Postclassic period, between 950 and 1521 A.D., and likely belong to the Tlacotepehua, a little-documented cultural group believed to have inhabited the mountainous regions of present-day Guerrero. Historical sources from the 16th century describe them as a branch of the Tepuzteca, metalworkers whose capital was in the town of Tlacotepec. They were displaced in the early colonial period when the Spanish repopulated the area with Nahua-speaking communities from Tlatelolco and Xochimilco.
According to Pérez Negrete, “The temporal context of the discoveries matches historical accounts.” He noted that some of the iconography on the bracelets closely resembles items previously unearthed at sites such as El Infiernillo in Coahuayutla and others in the Huasteca region.
Preservation, Protection, and Community Ties
The artifacts were remarkably well-preserved due to stable humidity and relative inaccessibility. INAH researchers estimate that while the cave may have been about 20 centimeters smaller in diameter a millennium ago, its overall layout has changed little. Pavlova’s cartographic survey places its total length at just under 252 meters, with a mostly horizontal profile and frequent water flow, creating narrow, uneven passages.
In cooperation with local ejido authorities, the objects were temporarily safeguarded to prevent looting. The INAH team worked closely with Carrizal de Bravo residents to raise awareness about cultural preservation and discourage illicit trade. “Talking with the communities has helped reduce looting,” said Pérez Negrete. “The people become our allies—they are our eyes on the ground.”
Researchers plan to continue their study of the site and its context, but for now, the Tlayócoc discovery stands as one of the most striking finds in Guerrero in recent years, shedding light on a culture that left few written traces but a powerful ceremonial imprint deep underground.
It’s always seemed understated; our time on Earth. By thousands of years.