Xunantunich, a Mayan temple complex on the Belize/Guatemala Border: A purported German expert on the Mayan language, Joachim Ritsteig, led a cadre of scientists to Guatemala on a treasure hunt Tuesday.
According to reports, Rittsteig believes he has cracked the famed Dresden Codex (a collection of ancient Mayan writings), revealing that 8 tons of gold lie deep beneath the waters of Lake Izabal in eastern Guatemala.
Rittsteig spent 40 years studying the Codex and now believes he understands it.
In the work, he says the Maya wrote of their capital city Atlan and its demise in an earthquake on October 30, 666. According to his translations, 2,156 gold tablets–upon which the Maya recorded their laws–sank with the city into Lake Izabal.
Radar scans of the region have pinpointed a location Rittsteig believes to be the site of the fabled city and its treasure.
UPDATE: Here is an excellent counter-argument that refutes claims that lowland Maya ever inscribed law Hammurabi-style onto gold tablets (nay, had an abundance of gold in the first place or any codified laws either) or that the term ‘Atlan’ is of Mayan origin when it seems to be an intentional mistranslation by an Atlantis-obsessed German.
