For some time now, many scientists have come up with a theory about Merida, Yucatán; this theory sustains that the capital of the state of Yucatán emerged from the sea (probably a couple of million years ago).
And now, with the recent discovery of a prehistoric shark teeth in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists say their theory could be proven true.
Megalodon tooth and bull shark tooth (Photo: Red Historia)
In an expedition along the Yucatan Peninsula, fifteen prehistoric teeth were found by researchers (Megalodon is the largest shark that existed about 2.5 million years ago).
However, the most interesting thing about this discovery is that this supports the theory of many anthropologists who argue that the territory where the city of Merida stands today, used to be under the sea hundreds of thousands year ago.
On the expedition, divers found 15 fossils of prehistoric sharks’ teeth, 13 of them of different species from each other, and some of them have been confirmed as Megalodon’s.
This important discovery took place in the Xoc cenote (Xoc meaning Shark in the Mayan language), located in the district of Cholul, within the Mérida municipality. Fossilized vertebrae of extinct animals and human bones were found embedded in the walls of this underwater cave. The discovery was made by speleologist and photographer Kay Nicte Vilchis Zapata and Erick Sosa Rodríguez, his partner.
Researcher Kay Vilchis diving in a Yucatán cenote (Photo: Daily Mail)
Footage shows the moment Vilichis finds a tooth and gives the ‘okay’ sign to show his excitement.
Zapata told local media: ‘We were looking at the wall and suddenly I saw a little something, I went closer and I saw that it was a tooth, that was the first and apparently it belonged to a sawshark.’
According to Vilichis, an initial exam of the thirteen shark dental fossils and their size and shape revealed that they might have belonged to the prehistoric and extinct species of Megalodon shark (Carcharocles megalodon), the mackerel shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) and the sawshark, the last two of which are not extinct.
Fossilized shark tooth (Photo: Pixabay)
For now, this finding is of great contribution to the study of Mexico’s prehistory; we will have to wait to find out what fossil studies reveal.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom with information from:
