Yahoo has dropped plans to use Mexico's Teotihuacan archaeological site for its much-hyped "time capsule" project after authorities fearing damage to the ancient ruins denied them permission.

Yahoo launched the project this week aimed at gathering text, images, video and sounds submitted by visitors from all over the world through 20 of the company's multiple-language sites.

The information was to be beamed by laser into space on Oct. 25 from the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, once the center of a sprawling Indian empire, in an attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial life.