Gay Nagle Myers
What has emerged as a major archaeological find could one day be a new tourism attraction in Mexico.
Archaeologists in Mexico discovered 4,926 well-preserved cave paintings in caves and ravines in the San Carlos mountain range near Burgos in northeastern Mexico near the Texas border.
The images in red, black, yellow and white depict humans hunting and fishing as well as animals, insects and abstract scenes. The paintings were discovered in 11 different sites in an area that experts previously thought had been uninhabited in pre-Hispanic times.
Although the ancient cave art was discovered in 2006 by archaeologists at the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the findings were revealed only recently at a symposium in Mexico City. INAH has been studying the artifacts since they were discovered.
“Because the paintings are on ravine walls and the sediments wash away in the rainy season, all we have is gravel,” INAH archaeologist Gustavo Ramirez told BBC News.
Experts have not yet been able to date the paintings, and no other objects were found in the caves that could provide clues as to the indigenous people who inhabited the area.