Excavation of the tunnel was excruciatingly slow. Using just spades and hands the team of archaeologists would only travel a few feet a month. 1,000 tons of earth were removed through this slow painstaking process and as they went they found artifacts in abundance. There were seashells, cat bones, pottery and even human skin. Stunning necklaces, rings and figurines were deliberately placed as if in offering. As Gómez explored he began to understand that this tunnel was never meant to be visited by the ordinary inhabitants of Teotihuacán.
Moving through the tunnel continued to reveal treasures and history that had never before been found. By the time Gómez and his team had reached the end of the tunnel 75,000 artifacts had been uncovered, cataloged and if possible completely restored. The team was not prepared for the range of artifacts that were hidden in the tunnel. The tunnel ended in a cross shaped chamber that was filled with a range of treasures like necklaces with the strings still intact, beetle wings, jaguar bones and balls of amber.
The thousands of artifacts that were discovered, the knives that speak of the artisans that existed during the period, the intricate statues that were painstakingly created are enough to astound anyone. But Gómez is far from done because inside the final chamber were two finely carved black statues. The statues faced a wall that was opposite to the entryway of the chamber. Perhaps the most tantalizing aspect of the tunnel are the three buried sub-chambers that rest below those figures.
The chambers underneath are believed to be a place where rituals might have been carried out. Gómez suggests that it might be understood as a symbolic tomb for the city’s founders. These chambers are of yet unexplored as Gómez and his team are loathe to damage the relics that could be hiding underneath. Most of their work continues to be done by hand and at times with toothbrushes.
The artifacts that have been found already will take years of study to learn everything that have to tell the world about the culture that created them. Gómez believes that this find is one of the most amazing finds in Mexican history as not only was it one of the most secret places in all of Teotihuacán but it is one of the few places that could be explored before being looted. There is still so much that is not understood about this pre-Aztec culture and the tens of thousands of artifacts that Gómez has already discovered or will discover could hold the answers.