In Mexico, ancient Maya cave reveals mysterious painted hand prints

Hand prints, reportedly 1,200 years old, are seen on the cave walls, in Merida, Mexico April 2021, in this screengrab taken from a handout video. SERGIO GROSJEAN/Handout via REUTERS

MERIDA (Reuters) - Dozens of black and red hand prints cover the walls of a cave in Mexico, believed to be associated with a coming-of-age ritual of the ancient Maya, according to an archeologist who has explored and studied the subterranean cavern.

The 137 prints, mostly made by the hands of children, are more than 1,200 years old, which would date them near the end of the ancient Maya's classical zenith, when major cities across present-day southern Mexico and Central America thrived amid major human achievements in math and art.