Cenote Naharon

Useful Information

Location:	3 km south of Tulum on Highway 307.
Open:	Summer daily 9-17. Winter dialy 9-16:30. [2015]
Fee:	Swimmers MXN 50, Snorkelers MXN 50, Divers MXN 150. [2015]
Classification:	Cenote
Light:	n/a
Dimension:	T=25 °C (sweet water), T=28 °C (salt water).
Guided tours:	n/a
Photography:	Allowed
Accessibility:	No
Bibliography:
Address:	Cenote Naharon.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

The Cenote Naharon - sometimes also written as Najaron - is a collapsed and waterfilled cave system named Sistema Naranjal. Like most cenotes of the area, it is an almost circular collapse doline with vertical walls offering cristal blue water. The reason why this cenote is signposted as Cenote Cristal is the diving operation which offers cave diving through this crystal clear water.

Cenote Naharon was an important watering hole along the sac be between Tulum and Chan Santa Cruz during the 19th century. A sac be was a Majan white road made of limestone which reflects star and moonlight.

The underwater cave is known for archaeological remains. Most famous is the Eve of Naharon (Spanish: Eva de Naharon), the skeleton of a 25- to 30-year-old woman which was found under water. It was carbon dated to 13,600 years old. However, this date is not as accurate as normal as the skeletons are in the lower part of the cave which is filled with salt water, which influences the accuracy of the carbon dating. The interesting thing with this disocvery is the connection with the earliest people settling in America. The bone structure is similar to people from Southern Asia so the discovery fits well with the Bering Strait Theory. According to this theory, people from Northeast Asia moved to America on a land or ice bridge where today the Bering Strait is. A part of those people continued to head southward towards Mexico and South America.