Ancient Tomb In Spain Destroyed And Replaced With A Picnic Table 
 
 Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET 
 
 The accidental destruction of an ancient tomb in northwest Spain was best summed up by an archaeologist in one perfect, if unintended, pun: "monumental error." 
 
 Workers in the town of Cristovo de Cea in the Galicia region mistook what is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Neolithic tomb for a broken stone picnic table and "repaired it." 
 
 Lauren Frayer reported from Spain for NPR's newscast: 
 
 "An ancient tomb in northwest Spain had heritage status — and thus was supposed to be protected and clearly marked as an artifact. But somehow the local town council wasn't aware. So when parks and rec workers saw the granite slabs — they thought they were part of a park bench that needed repair. They poured concrete into the ancient burial chamber, and topped it with a brand new picnic table. An environmental group realized the error and complained. The tomb is believed to be more than 6,000 years old, from the area's ancient Celtic settlers." 
 
 An investigation into how the tomb came to be destroyed is underway, according to The Local, but it appears to be an open and shut case: Officials simply weren't aware the site existed — not even the town's mayor, José Luis Valladores. 
 
 "No one told me, neither Heritage nor the environmental group," he told the Spanish Huffington Post. "The site wasn't even marked, and the logical thing would have been for them to get in contact with the local council so that we could have taken measures to protect the site," he added. 
 
 Juan Barceló, the archaeologist who called the mistake a monumental error, said he "was horrified when he heard [the] news," and speculated that the breakdown in communication between builders and the local authorities was probably due to the summer holidays. 
 
 He also told The Local that mistakes like this are not the norm. 
 
 "This is not representative of Spain, where monuments over 100 years old are all preserved by law," Barceló said. "All authorities, national, state and local work effectively preserving our heritage. But sometimes accidents happen. I am sure that such disasters happen in many other countries, but have not been published." 
 
 It turns out Barceló is partly right. Other countries have destroyed ancient remains, but usually it's done knowingly. 
 
 In 2007, as The New York Times reports, "a work crew in the ancient capital city of Nanjing unearthed and destroyed the burial sites of 10 noblemen from six dynasties." 
 
 Just last year, according to archaeologists, an ancient Native American burial ground and village in California was discovered and then razed in order to make way for multimillion-dollar homes. 
 
 However, the mistaken destruction of ancient relics isn't completely unheard of. 
 
 In 2013, NPR's Scott Neuman wrote about workers destroying a 2,300-year-old Mayan pyramid in Belize to use the rubble for road repair. They were apparently unaware that the pyramid was a Mayan ruin. 
 
 And then there are times when even the best intentions to preserve ancient relics go horribly awry, like this story from NPR's Eyder Peralta about a painter's attempt to restore a fresco. ||||| FILE - In this March 10, 2008 file photo, journalists appear silhouetted against a Mayan temple, before covering the meeting of 'Indigenous People to Heal Our Mother Earth'' in Palenque, Mexico. Archaeologists... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this March 10, 2008 file photo, journalists appear silhouetted against a Mayan temple, before covering the meeting of 'Indigenous People to Heal Our Mother Earth'' in Palenque, Mexico. Archaeologists... (Associated Press) 
 
 MEXICO CITY (AP) — Archaeologists at the Mayan ruin site of Palenque said Monday they have discovered an underground water tunnel built under the Temple of Inscriptions, which houses the tomb of an ancient ruler named Pakal. 
 
 Archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez said researchers believe the tomb and pyramid were purposely built atop a spring between AD 683 and 702. The tunnel led water from under the funeral chamber out into the broad esplanade in front of the temple, thus giving Pakal's spirit a path to the underworld. 
 
 Attention has focused on the heavily carved stone sarcophagus in which Pakal was buried, and which some erroneously believe depict the Maya ruler seated at the controls of a spaceship. 
 
 But Gonzalez said carvings on a pair of stone ear plugs found in the grave say a god "will guide the dead toward the underworld, by submerging (them) into the water so they will be received there." 
 
 Pakal, in other words, didn't fly off into space; he went down the drain. "There is nothing to do with spaceships," Gonzalez said. 
 
 The tunnel, which connects to another, is made of stone and is about two feet (60 centimeters) wide and tall. 
 
 The director of archaeology for the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Pedro Sanchez Nava, said the theory makes sense in light of other pre-Hispanic peoples, such as those who lived at Teotihuacan, near Mexico City, where another water tunnel was found. 
 
 "In both cases there was a water current present," said Sanchez Nava. "There is this allegorical meaning for water ... where the cycle of life begins and ends." 
 
 The dig began in 2012, when researchers become concerned about underground anomalies detected with geo-radar under the area in front of the pyramid's steps. 
 
 Fearing a hole or geological fault that could cause the pyramid to settle or collapse, they dug at the spot — and uncovered three layers of carefully fitted stone covering the top of the tunnel. 
 
 Gonzalez said the same type of three-layered stone covering has been found in the floor of Pakal's tomb, within the pyramid. 
 
 He said there appears to be no shaft or connection between the tomb and the tunnel, but adds the conduit hasn't been fully explored yet because it is too small to crawl through. 
 
 Researchers had to send a robot with a camera down to view much of the underground horizontal shaft. 
 
 Francisco Estrada-Belli, an assistant professor of archaeology at Boston University who was not involved in the dig, wrote, "I believe that building a tomb over a canal certainly does fit with the belief that water and water bodies were entrances to the underworld." 
 
 "Several cases of temples (and the associated tombs) are known to be built over natural caves that may or may not have held water," Estrada-Belli wrote. 
 
 Author Erich von Daniken suggested in his 1968 book "Chariots of the Gods?" that Pakal's stance in the engraving on the stone sarcophagus lid resembled the position of astronauts and that he appeared to be seated in a contraption with flames coming out of it and controls. 
 
 Experts say that the "flames" are in fact depictions of the Maya's "World Tree" or "Tree of Life," whose roots were believed to reach into the underworld.
– Usually municipal workers taking the initiative to replace a broken picnic table would be heralded as a minor civic victory. However, that's less the case when the "broken picnic table" was actually a 6,000-year-old tomb under government protection. NPR reports the tomb is believed to have been built by Neolithic Celtic settlers in what is now the town of San Cristovo de Cea in Spain. After removing the granite slabs they thought had been parts of a bench, workers poured concrete into the burial chamber and topped it off with a picnic table. A Spanish archaeologist tells the Local he was "horrified" by the "monumental error" after an environmental group discovered what had happened in June. Town officials say they weren't aware the tomb was even there, despite it being listed as a heritage site. "No one told me," the mayor tells El Huffington Post. "The site wasn't even marked." But a regional government department is investigating the situation and tells the Local "the town council was well aware of its existence." According to NPR, this kind of thing isn't unheard of. Two years ago, workers in Belize accidentally ruined a 2,300-year-old Mayan pyramid because they needed rubble to fix a road. But more often these ancient sites are destroyed on purpose. Last year, for example, developers dismantled a Native American burial ground in California to make room for some million-dollar homes. (This kid knows a thing or two about accidentally destroying precious things.)