Samabaj, the first underwater archaeological ruins excavated in Guatemala, were discovered accidentally 12 years ago by Roberto Samayoa, a local businessman and recreational diver, exploring picturesque Lake Atitlan, ringed by Mayan villages and popular with foreign tourists.

Samayoa, whose grandmother told him legends of a sunken church, dived for years at the lake, often stumbling across pieces of pottery from the Mayan pre-classic period. In 1996, he found the site, with parts of buildings and huge ceremonial stones, known as stelae, clearly visible.

Only recently have professional archeologists taken an interest in investigating these matters, mapping the 400-square-meter (4,300-square-foot) area with sonar technology and excavating structures on a raised part of the lake bed.

Researchers believe this area, 50 feet below the lake's surface, was once an island until a catastrophic event raised water levels around 250 A.D. just before the height of the Mayan empire. The rising lake drowned the buildings and ceramics found intact there suggest the inhabitants left in a hurry.

"We have found six ceremonial monuments and four altars and without doubt there are more, which means this was an extremely important place from a spiritual point of view," lead archaeologist Sonia Medrano told Reuters in an interview.

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